Coronavirus: Is Cheltenham Festival cancelled over virus fears?

The virus has caused numerous sporting events to be cancelled or take place without spectators

Cheltenham Festival is all set to go ahead despite growing concerns over coronavirus.

The jump racing event begins on Tuesday, 10 March, with COVID-19 cases rising in the UK to 244, as of Sunday, with two fatalities, according to the government.

Notably there have been three cases in Gloucestershire, with one in Cheltenham.

The government could now step up measures to implement a ‘delay’ phase to protect against the outbreak of COVID-19 by reducing or stopping large-scale gatherings.

Cheltenham Racecourse announced an update on the eve of the festival, with extra measures now in place to ensure racing goes off as planned.

Cheltenham is planning to host the Festival as planned (Getty)

A statement read: “We look forward to staging The Festival presented by Magners at Cheltenham next week. We welcome the government’s guidance that the business of the country should continue as usual, while ensuring we adhere to the latest public health advice.

“We have increased the number of wash basins and toilet facilities on site, we will make hand sanitiser readily available and increase the number of paper towels for hand drying.

“We have also increased staff numbers to ensure that soap and drying facilities are constantly available.”

While Nick Rust, chief executive of the British Horseracing Authority, added recently that the decision would be down to the government.

“We have an industry group in place that has been and continues to work on the potential impact of Coronavirus on the horse racing industry as a whole,” Rust said.

“The BHS executive met with the team at Cheltenham Racecourse on Monday morning (February, 24) to discuss final plans for the Festival, and the Coronavirus was discussed at the meeting.

The Cheltenham Festival starts on Tuesday (Getty)

“In terms of potential ramifications for the Festival, any decision that impacts on it taking place will not be a decision that racing makes, but rather the government.

“In the event that the Cheltenham Festival was postponed, either in its entirety or in part for any reason, there are contingencies already in place to re-stage it later in the season.”

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden insists the festival “should go ahead”, with a COBRA meeting on Monday set to finalise measures for the immediate future.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: ”Any talk of cancellation is very premature indeed – at the moment there’s no evidence at all to suggest we should be doing that and we don’t have any plans to.”