The Goa government on Friday announced that it has decided to cancel the Sunburn 2020 electronic dance music festival, scheduled to be held from December 27-29, due to the possible health hazards posed by the event.

"We have taken the decision keeping in mind the health of the people of Goa," Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar said

The 14th edition of the music festival was announced earlier this month by organisers Percept Live and was expected to be attended by 10,000 guests. According to the organisers of the event, Sunburn 2020 was expected to be a toned-down affair, as compared to previous editions which attracted hundreds of thousands of music lovers to the event.

"We wanted to promote tourism and get tourism-related businesses like taxis, restaurants, hotels started by having an event like Sunburn, but after we thought more about it, we decided to cancel the EDM festival due to the pandemic," Ajgaonkar said.

Opposition parties led by the Congress had demanded that the event should be postponed in wake of the ongoing pandemic, even as health authorities in the state have warned of a second COVID-19 wave in Goa over the coming months.