Madrid’s traditional Three Kings parade took place Thursday in the Spanish capital, despite the Omicron surge.
The parade has witnessed a large presence of children and spectators.
The event was cancelled last year due to the pandemic outbreak.
This year’s parade featured a giant mechanical elephant, live camels, and acrobats, as well as a traditional fireworks display at the end.
Madrid city hall had tried to limit attendance to 7,000 spectators who obtained free tickets online.
However, many people turned up along the roughly three-kilometre-long route despite the high rates of COVID-19 contagion in Spain.
And unlike past years, the organizers decided to cancel sweet thrown out to the crowd to prevent spectators from coming in close contact as they scramble to catch them.
Spanish officials also asked attendees to wear facemasks.
Nearly 300 million people have COVID-19 worldwide during the past two years. More than five million people died of the Covid.
However, a new study also found the Omicron variant may be less severe than other strains as it lightly attacks lungs.
The study on mice and hamsters found that Omicron produced less damaging infections to the lungs.
Previous variants would cause scarring in the lungs and serious breathing difficulty.
