Emre Asikci
02 March 2020•Update: 03 March 2020
ANKARA
The government of Thailand postponed on Monday the Thai Grand Prix as global death toll from the coronavirus outbreaks nears 3,000.
"As the global outbreak of coronavirus continues to develop, the Thai government has communicated that it won’t be possible to hold the OR Thailand Grand Prix on its original date," MotoGP announced in a statement on its website.
The motorcycle road racing event was scheduled for March 22 in the northeastern Buriram province.
The host added that it was being evaluated "if an alternative date is possible for the event later this season."
Earlier, it said that the season opening Qatar MotoGP had been canceled due to travel restrictions for Italian passengers.
The virus, also known as COVID-19, has spread to over 50 countries besides China with more than 87,000 confirmed cases. Some 42 cases have been diagnosed in Thailand so far, according to the World Health Organization.
In the Chinese mainland, there have been 2,873 deaths, whereas 104 people died after contracting the virus elsewhere.
