The2020 London Marathon has been postponed from 26 April 2020 to 4 October 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
“The world is in an unprecedented situation grappling with a global pandemic of COVID-19 and public health is everyone’s priority,” a statement from the organizers read in part.
“We know how disappointing this news will be for so many – the runners who have trained for many months, the thousands of charities for which they are raising funds and the millions who watch the race every year,” it added.
The long-distance race is the latest in a string of sporting events to be affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Others sporting events that have either been cancelled or postponed include domestic leagues, Formula 1, the 2020 Kenya Open Golf, and NBA.
The COVID-19 outbreak was first reported in the city of Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, in December 2019. Experts have attributed the outbreak to a novel coronavirus that has since spread across China and abroad with confirmed cases exceeding 132,000 globally.
According to WHO, 123 countries and territories have confirmed cases, and at least 5,000 people have lost their lives.
