MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. Home matches of the Chinese ice hockey clubs playing in the Russia-based Supreme Hockey League (VHL) will be held on the territory of Russia due to the outbreak of coronavirus in China, the league’s press service reported on Friday.

The Chinese General Administration of Sport earlier instructed national sports associations to cancel all sports events in the country at least until April in view of the aggravating situation with the coronavirus outbreak.

"In view of the epidemiological situation in China following the coronavirus outbreak, the VHL made a decision in line with the Article 44 of the 2019/2020 season Regulations to relocate all earlier scheduled home matches of China-based hockey clubs ORG, KRS Heilongjiang and Tsen Tou to the territory of Russia," the VHL press service said in a statement.

The Supreme Hockey League, which is also known as the Higher Hockey League, is a professional league of ice hockey clubs and is viewed as the second highest in Russia consisting of 34 teams from four countries (Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Uzbekistan).

Three Chinese ice hockey clubs are playing in the 2019/2020 season of the Supreme Hockey League and they are KRS Heilongjiang, ORG and Tsen Tou Jilin City.

On December 31, 2019, the Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of the new type of pneumonia in Wuhan, a city with a population of more than 11 million people. The culprit — 2019-nCoV coronavirus — was identified on January 7, 2020.

According to the latest data, 849 people were infected with the new disease in China, and 26 of them died. The coronavirus is also identified in Vietnam, South Korea, the US, Singapore and Japan. On January 23, the WHO refrained from declaring an international emergency over the outbreak of the virus that originated in China.