Announced on Twitter, the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) will postpone its week two until further notice due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Esports postponed in China
It is unclear how this will affect the 2020 League of Legends World Championships, as they are slated to be held in Shanghai. The first event to be affected was the WESG that has canceled its finals, which were to be held in Macau. The events were to be held in February.
Before the announcement, LPL coach Clearlove for EDward Gaming was possibly unable to return to the LPL due to being in Wuhan at the time of the coronavirus quarantine.
The virus will continue to affect esports as many companies supporting the industry, namely Tencent, are based in the country.
About the coronavirus
Since last week, the Wuhan coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak has been in the news. Patients in China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and more have the virus. The World Health Organization addressed the virus last week and stated that it is not yet a “global health emergency” as its presence is mainly in China as of right now. At the time of writing, the disease has claimed the lives of 56 people and 1,975 are infected. Chinese media claims that a coronavirus patient has successfully recovered.
Scientists are currently working on a cure for the deadly disease. This isn’t the first strain of coronavirus to make worldwide panic. A similar virus, known as SARS, made headlines in 2003 and killed fewer than 800 people in China and Canada. More recently, in 2012, MERS spread, raising more fears of coronaviruses. While not proven, drugs were tested. It is unclear how prepared we are for this strain of the virus.
Follow Daily Esports for more information about the coronavirus as it relates to esports as it becomes available, including updates on when postponed events are rescheduled.
