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The NBA season and the world's biggest gaming show E3 are among the latest events affected after the COVID-19 outbreak officially became a pandemic.
Key points:
- The 2019-20 NBA season will stop "until further notice" after a player tested positive
- New York's St Patrick's Day parade has been cancelled for the first time in 258 years
- Hobart's Dark Mofo festival is off, but Bluesfest at Byron Bay will go ahead
The World Health Organisation upgraded the severity of coronavirus after a spike in active cases this week brought the death toll to more than 4,600 across at least 114 countries.
The grim news forced the cancellation or suspension of more scheduled events in 2020 across business, the arts and sport, both at home and abroad.
It has thrown into chaos the planning of corporate conferences and cultural festivals, while forcing the indefinite closure of theme parks and museums.
Here's a snapshot of some of the major events impacted as authorities look to reduce international travel and limit human-to-human contact.
Conferences
The world's biggest gaming conference, E3, which was scheduled for June 9-11 in Los Angeles, has been cancelled.
With the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X console launches planned for later this year, organiser said they were "exploring options" for "an online experience" instead.
The news came after US President Donald Trump announced a ban on all travel between the US and Europe for 30 days.
Also on American soil, the Tucson Festival of Books, scheduled for March 14-15, has been cancelled.
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo was shut down yesterday, a week into the event.
SXSW, the influential music conference known for breaking the next big thing, won't go ahead in Austin, Texas, this year.
Australians artists who were scheduled to appear have been left out of pocket.
Sport
The NBA suspended its 2019-20 season this morning when a Utah Jazz player tested positive for COVID-19 before the team's game at Oklahoma City Thunder.
American media reported that centre Rudy Gobert was the player infected.
The NBA, which generated revenue of $US8.8 billion ($13.62 billion) last year, announced it was closing down "until further notice" and would "use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic".
The Fed Cup finals for women's tennis have been postponed, coming in the wake of the men's Indian Wells Open being cancelled.
The national team competition, which features Australia, was set to take place in Hungary from April 14-19.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) said a ruling by the Hungarian Government limiting indoor public gatherings to 100 people left them little choice but to postpone the event.
Formula 1 saw its race in Shanghai on April 19 postponed while the Bahrain Grand Prix is set to take place behind closed doors on March 22.
The Premier League cancelled this morning's game between Arsenal and Manchester City, and is reviewing its schedule for the final two months of the 2019-2020 season
Concerts
Tours and music festivals around the world have been impacted.
In Australia, Western Sydney's Parramasala festival, which usually attracts about 35,000 attendees and was due to take place this weekend, has been cancelled.
Hobart's cult festival Dark Mofo, set to take place in June, has also been cancelled.
Organisers said it was prudent to cancel the event now, because the financial cost of a last-minute move would have been high.
Bluesfest, a major music festival in Byron Bay over Easter, is going ahead.
The most significant international cancellation so far has been Coachella.
It's one of the biggest music festivals in the world, and it was supposed to welcome Rage Against The Machine, Lana Del Rey and others, but has been postponed until October.
Films and television
The first big film to be affected was No Time To Die, the new James Bond film.
It was supposed to appear in April but has now been pushed back to November.
This week, Sony Pictures announced Peter Rabbit 2, a live-action/CGI cross that features the voices of Margot Robbie, James Corden and others, would now come out in August, instead of April.
A planned three-week shoot in Venice for the seventh Mission: Impossible film has been cancelled, halting production on the film.
In terms of TV, the American series The Amazing Race, filming in the UK, has stopped production, while the US version of Survivor has paused filming until May.
Also in the US, major late-night shows will soon be taped without a studio audience.
They include The Tonight Show, hosted by Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and the Daily Show, hosted by Trevor Noah.
Public attractions
Hong Kong's Disneyland closed on January 26 in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak and has no plans to re-open, despite the upcoming Easter school holiday.
The annual St Patrick's Day parade in New York City, scheduled for March 17, will be postponed for the first time in its 258-year history.
It has marched up Fifth Avenue to 86th Street every year since 1762.
Ireland has also cancelled all St Patrick's Day parades this year.
Many museums across Europe are closed, including all in Italy where public gatherings were banned this week as the country went into national lockdown.
The Auschwitz Memorial in Poland announced yesterday that it would be closed until March 25.
Tokyo's Nakameguro district has cancelled its Cherry Blossom Festival.
Topics: infectious-diseases-other, diseases-and-disorders, arts-and-entertainment, government-and-politics, games, sport, health, health-policy, business-economics-and-finance, olympics-summer, australia, united-states, italy, china, hong-kong
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