Virus curtails Easter celebrations in Mexico City

Preparations continue ahead of Easter celebrations in Mexico City which will be limited by the coronavirus pandemic for the second year in a row. Dramatic recreations of the Passion of the Christ will take place without crowds to limit the spread of the virus. Some 700,000 people would typically attend the Good Friday representation of the Via Crucis in the Iztapalapa area of Mexico's capital.

Actors dressed as Romans beat and drag "Jesus" through the streets in a ceremony that has been held annually since 1843, when the faithful thanked God for the end of a cholera epidemic. Those who make a living from tourism and the influx of visitors around the staging say the restrictions on the event will deeply affect them.

Iztapalapa is the most populated borough in Mexico City with nearly 2 million people, and is among the areas of the city to have recorded the most deaths related to COVID-19. Authorities have ensured organizers hold their stagings behind closed doors and are televised instead, with the actors as the sole attendees. Mexico City is at a months-low point of bed occupancy in hospitals, but some fear Easter Week celebrations could lead to a rise in coronavirus infections.