The rapid spread of the new coronavirus or COVID-19 has sparked a global alarm. More than 3,100 people have died, most of them in China, and over 90,000 have been infected by the virus so far. As panic over the outbreak spreads, the list of events getting cancelled or postponed is growing by the day.
Many major events from the field of technology, fashion, sports and some cultural programmes are likely to be scrapped owing to the outbreak which has claimed 3,203 lives, according to the latest figures.
Sports
As athletes, officials and spectators worry about the spread of the virus, many countries are avoiding events that attract large crowds as a precautionary measure.
Recently, Swiss football authorities announced suspension of all Super League and second-division Challenge League matches until March 23.
According to latest numbers, 56 people have tested positive in Switzerland since the first case emerged less than a week ago.
The Swiss Super League last year was valued at €260.97 million (Rs 2,459 crore approximately), according to evaluation by Transfermarkt, a website offering information on football.
The outbreak has also led to MotoGP postponing the Thailand Grand Prix motorcycle race which last year saw more than 200,000 attendees. The race was scheduled to be held on March 22.
The Italian top-flight football league Serie A has cancelled/postponed nine games due to the coronavirus threat. Last year, overall attendance for Serie A league was around 67 lakh. Currently in Italy, there are 2,263 active cases of coronavirus.
Three major athletic events have been impacted due to the virus.
The Asian 20km Race Walk Championships in Japan has been cancelled. In the race, which was scheduled for March 15, as many as 13 Indians were to take part.
Along with this, World Athletics Indoor Championships has been postponed to March next year. The championship was going to be held in China which is the most affected country with 80,270 cases of coronavirus.
Another athletic event, the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships which was to be held in China, has been cancelled.
India recently pulled out of the upcoming shooting World Cup in Cyprus due to the coronavirus threat.
Tech events
The annual developer conference held by Google in Mountain View is cancelled which was estimated to see 5,000 attendees.
Even Facebook’s annual Global Marketing Summit in San Francisco is scrapped which was supposed to host 5,000 people.
The biggest smartphone conference, Mobile World Congress (MCW) in Barcelona will not be held. LG, Amazon, Sony, Ericsson, Facebook, Nvidia, MediaTek, Sprint and Vivo have pulled out of the event. Last year, MCW saw the attendance of over one lakh people.
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco which last year was attended by 27,000 people is cancelled this year. Major firms like Sony and Microsoft have pulled out of the event.
F8 is Facebook’s biggest event of the year. It will be replaced with local events and live-streamed content. F8 last year drew over 5,000 attendees.
Tourist attractions
Tokyo’s famous cherry blossom festival for which an estimated 63 million people travel to and within Japan and spend around $2.7 billion, according to an analysis from Kansai University, was cancelled this year.
Venice authorities cancelled the last two days of the historic Venice carnival which on an average sees three million visitors.
Okinawa’s Azalea Festival that attracts around 80,000 visitors is cancelled this year.
Fashion shows
Many shows for Paris and Milan’s fashion weeks remain cancelled. Recently, actress Deepika Padukone said she would skip Paris Fashion Week.
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