The worldwide coronavirus concern has claimed another Formula One venue victim – as race officials have banned fans from attending the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix – currently scheduled to be held March 22, 2020.
Race officials have determined that the race would be “participants only” and will not allow spectators to attend the race nor any of the race’s weekend related activities due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
The Bahrain Grand Prix becomes the second F1 race to be affected by the coronavirus outbreak with the Chinese Grand Prix already having been postponed from its original April 17-19, 2020 scheduled date.
“Given the continued spread of Covid-19 globally, convening a major sporting event, which is open to the public and allows thousands of international travelers and local fans to interact in close proximity, would not be the right thing to do at the present time. But 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,” said the race organizers in an statement released to the media.
The coronavirus has killed more than 3,400 people worldwide so far but the vast majority of those deaths were in China with elderly and those with underlying medical issues primarily succumbing to the virus.