HCMC will not have any firework displays on Lunar New Year's Eve

Fireworks light up the sky in HCMC's Thu Duc City on December 31, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Huu Khoa

HCMC will not have its firework displays on Lunar New Year's Eve this year, the municipal cultural department said Thursday.

Vo Trong Nam, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Sports, said fireworks will not be launched based on "instructions from the central government and the city."

According to VN Express, it will be the second consecutive year that HCMC eschews the Tet firework displays, with Covid-19 impacts prompting the cancellation last year.

However, other events and activities to celebrate Vietnam's most important festival, including street decorations and other festivities, will be held as planned, Nam said.

HCMC had also decided against firework displays for the Gregorian New Year's Eve this year because of the pandemic situation.

Hanoi has designated one single location, Thong Nhat Park, to view fireworks on the first 15 minutes of the Lunar New Year on Feb. 1.

The capital neither lit any fireworks nor organized entertainment activities or public countdowns to celebrate New Year on Jan. 1 amid a Covid-19 surge.

Vietnam will have a nine-day (January 29-February 6) break for this Tet.

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