Miss World 2021 postponed after contestants, including India's Manasa Varanasi, get COVID

The much-awaited finale of the beauty pageant Miss World 2021 has been postponed due to a COVID-19 cases amongst the contestants. The finale was originally scheduled to take place on December 16, 2021, in Puerto Rico. However, the organisers had to postpone the global broadcast finale due to the safety interests of its staff and contestants. 

Reportedly, 17 people, including the contestants and crew of the organisations contracted the coronavirus. These contestants also include Miss India 2020 Manasa Varanasi, who has been representing the country at the pageant. Moreover, Manasa even reached the top 10 of the contest. After the big win of Harnaaz Sandhu at Miss Universe 2021, Indians were eyeing Manasa for bringing another crown back home.

Miss World 2021 postponed

The Miss World Organisation announced the news of the COVID-19 outbreak which led to the postponement of the show. The organisation released an official statement via their social media.

The statement read, "Miss World 2021 temporarily postpones global broadcast finale in Puerto Rico due to health and safety interest of contestants, staff, crew and the general public." The statement further mentioned the finale will take place within 90 days after the organisers had a talk with the medical team. They wrote, " After meeting with the virologists and medical experts hired to oversee the Miss World 2021 event and discussing with the Puerto Rico Health Department, the decision has been made by the organizers of the event to postpone the globally broadcast finale at the Puerto Rico Coliseum Jose Miguel Agrelot to be held within the next 90 days."

The organisers implemented additional safety measures after the COVID-19 outbreak. They took the decision of postponing the finale after additional cases were confirmed. Explaining their safety measure, the organisers wrote, "The next step according to the medical experts is immediate quarantine, pending observation and further testing according to best practices in situations like this." The organisation further ensure the contestants and staff will return to their home countries only when they are cleared by their health officials and advisors. They ended the release with the CEO, Julia Moley's statement, that read, “We are very much looking forward to the return of our contestants, (who we have grown to know and love), to compete for the Miss World crown.”

Image: Instagram/@manasa5varanasi/Twitter/@missworldltd