Bollywood / IIFA postpones award ceremony in Madhya Pradesh over coronavirus fears

Due to growing concern of novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) has announced its decision to postpone the awards ceremony that was scheduled to be held in Madhya Pradesh.

The IIFA awards 2020 were to be held in Indore and the star-studded show was to be hosted by Salman Khan.

“With due regard to the growing concerns around the spread of COVID-19 virus and keeping the health and safety of IIFA’s fans and the general community at large, after consulting the Madhya Pradesh Government, the IIFA management and stakeholders from the film industry, it has been decided to postpone to later date the much-awaited weekend and awards 2020 celebrations,” said IIFA organisers in a statement.

The Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) also announced its decision to postpone the The Lotus Make-up India Fashion Week Autumn-Winter (LMIFW AW) 2020 which was scheduled from March 11-15.

“With due regard to the growing concerns around the spread of COVID-19 virus in New Delhi and keeping the health and safety of our fraternity (including members, guests traveling from across the globe and support teams), Fashion Design Council of India has decided to postpone Lotus Makeup India Fashion Week in association with EbixCash to a later and more appropriate date,” said Sunil Sethi, Board of Governors and FDCI team in a statement.

The total number of positive cases in India has reached 31 so far.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also cancelled his visit to Brussels for an India-European Union (EU) summit, which will be rescheduled.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President JP Nadda will be skipping Holi festivities  in view of the coronavirus outbreak.

India joins a growing list of other international events that have been postponed or canceled for the on-going coronavirus outbreak, including Tokyo Fashion Week, Seoul Fashion Week, Shanghai Fashion Week and Beijing Fashion Week.

American fashion designer Ralph Lauren canceled his fall show planned for New York in April, while Italian fashoin brands Gucci, Giorgio Armani and Versace also postponed their cruise 2021 shows planned in May.

Globally, there have been more than 92,800 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus. At least 3,100 people have died so far — majority of them in the People’s Republic of China. The number of cases have also steadily increased in Iran, Italy, Japan and South Korea.