It is not really a surprise, as pretty much every public event around the world for the coming couple of months has already been, or is being, cancelled, but now it is officially announced.
Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Li-On announced during an interview that the traditional holiday mass Birkat Kohanim" event, normally scheduled for the first day of Chol Hamoed for people from abroad (this year would have been Sunday), is cancelled. Li-On said that unless a miracle happens and we will suddenly see a drastic drop in the number of people sick with the Corona virus, the mass Birkat Kohanim will not take place.
source: Kipa
This event takes place on Chol Hamoed of Sukkos and of Pesach every year, and has happened every year since 1970 when it was founded, by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Gafner during the War of Attrition.
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