F1 Bahrain Grand Prix to be held behind closed doors due to coronavirus
THE Bahrain Grand Prix will be held behind closed doors due to coronavirus.
Race chiefs released a statement saying: "Convening a major sporting event, which is open to the public and allows thousands of international travellers and local fans to interact in close proximity would not be the right thing to do at the present time.
"To ensure that neither the sport, nor its global supporter base, is unduly impacted, the race weekend itself will still go ahead as a televised event.
"Bahrain’s own early actions to prevent, identify and isolate cases of individuals with Covid-19 has been extremely successful to date.
"The approach has involved rapid, proactive measures, identifying those affected by the virus, of which the overwhelming majority of cases relate to those travelling into the country by air.
"Aggressive social distancing measures have further increased the effectiveness of preventing the virus’ spread, something that would clearly be near impossible to maintain were the race to have proceeded as originally planned."
The race will be held on March 22.
Concerts featuring DJ's Afrojack and Don Diablo over the race weekend have also been cancelled.
Bahrain has suspended flights to some destinations over concerns of the rapidly spreading virus.
It has also asked people entering the country who have recently visited Italy, South Korea, Egypt and Lebanon to isolate themselves for two weeks.
Concerns over rapid spread of the coronavirus, which has killed 145 people and infected 5,823 others in Iran, has led to a raft of major events including concerts being cancelled in the Gulf region.
The opening race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, is scheduled to be held on March 15.
It comes after Italy made the decision to stage sporting fixtures behind closed doors until at least April 3 and to restrictions on people travelling to the UK from there.
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The Italian national rugby teams’ Six Nations matches in Ireland this weekend and at home to England next weekend have already been postponed.
England's football friendlies against Italy and Denmark are also set to be cancelled amid the coronavirus crisis.
And Premier League chiefs are preparing for how they would handle the situation if the Government ordered public events to be limited to just 500 spectators, including the possibility of every game being shown live on television.