At least two pop­u­lar mas bands from San Fer­nan­do will not be par­tic­i­pat­ing in the 2022 Car­ni­val Pa­rade of the Bands be­cause of the threat of COVID-19.

Kalicha­ran Car­ni­val, a ti­tan of San Fer­nan­do Car­ni­val which won the Band of the year ti­tle 27 times, con­firmed that it is opt­ing out of all com­pe­ti­tions be­cause of soar­ing COVID in­fec­tions.

Band man­ag­er Ayana Kalicha­ran told Guardian Me­dia that it was not pos­si­ble to pro­duce a band with­out com­pro­mis­ing so­cial dis­tanc­ing.

"We will not be en­ter­ing the Car­ni­val 2022 King and Queen of the Bands com­pe­ti­tion. At the end of the day, the cul­ture is al­ways go­ing to be there. The virus is vi­o­lent and even sci­en­tists can­not un­der­stand it. I think band lead­ers and cit­i­zens should be cau­tious," she said.

"It takes a lot of plan­ning and work prep­ping to do this. The mas­quer­aders are very skilled but I am not sure what the stan­dards will be like. We have to take in­to con­sid­er­a­tion the ac­qui­si­tion of raw ma­te­ri­als and the time pe­ri­od is pret­ty short."

Kalicha­ran said the team did some trou­bleshoot­ing on a way for­ward.

She com­mend­ed the Prime Min­is­ter for re­strict­ing all street pa­rades and fetes say­ing even if this was al­lowed, her team would not sup­port it.

"I have fam­i­ly and friends who are vac­ci­nat­ed with boost­ers and still got COVID. Some passed away be­cause they had un­der­ly­ing co­mor­bidi­ties. We all need to mash our brakes and think of a way for­ward and ap­proach it so that even if there is a 2023 Car­ni­val we must pro­ceed with the safest way for­ward," she added.

Kalicha­ran al­so said that mon­ey was not every­thing.

"At the end of the day, we have to think of lives be­fore we think of mon­ey," she added.

Own­er of Fire­works Pro­mo­tions Wayne Hanooman al­so said he will not be par­tic­i­pat­ing in the com­pe­ti­tion.

"COVID is a health risk and my mas­quer­aders' safe­ty is more im­por­tant than Car­ni­val," Hanooman said.

"Now is not a good time for Car­ni­val. The in­fec­tion rates are too high and it is not safe."

Two weeks ago Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley said some el­e­ments of Car­ni­val could take place this year once prop­er health pro­to­cols are in place. He said large gath­er­ings can­not be held, giv­en the cur­rent state of the pan­dem­ic and the ris­ing threat of the Omi­cron COVID-19 vari­ant.