By Fatih Erel
ISTANBUL (AA) - Next weekend's Qatar round of the World Superbike Championship was postponed Tuesday due to the coronavirus outbreak.
"As the global coronavirus outbreak continues, travel restrictions to Qatar have been enforced, primarily affecting passengers from Italy, amongst others. People arriving directly from the country or who have been in Italy in the past two weeks will be taken directly to quarantine for a minimum of 14 days," the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) said in a statement.
"Italian participation in WorldSBK – both on track and off – is vital, thus the decision has been taken to postpone the Lauretana Water Qatar Round until further notice," FIM said.
With the Qatar round postponed, the season is set to resume March 28-29 in Jerez, Spain.
The coronavirus outbreak, officially known as COVID-19. was first detected in Wuhan, China, in Hubei province in December. It has spread to at least 73 countries.
The global death toll from the virus reached 3,044, with more than 88,000 infected.