Hong Kong Rugby Sevens Canceled for Second Year Because of Covid

(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong’s Rugby Sevens tournament was canceled for a second year because of Covid-19, depriving fans of what is traditionally one of the city’s biggest annual events.

Travel restrictions, concern about the delta variant of the virus and a pressing timeline resulted in the three-day tournament — title sponsored by Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. and HSBC Holdings Plc — to be scrapped this year, organizers said in a statement Wednesday. The event was due to run Nov. 5-7, having been rescheduled from its original date in April, again due to Covid.

The Hong Kong Rugby Union said it is now planning for next year, when the Sevens is scheduled to return on April 1-3. The event was also scrapped in 2020 because of the virus.

The tournament would have tested the government’s appetite for large-scale events in a city that employs some of the world’s strictest travel and social-distancing restrictions. Hong Kong hasn’t reported a confirmed local Covid infection in nearly two months.

Not everything has been canceled. Clockenflap, Hong Kong’s biggest music festival, is still scheduled to return late November after being shelved the previous two years. The city’s biggest annual art fair, Art Basel, went ahead this year with fewer visitors.

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