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Coronavirus pandemic

2020 European Fencing Championships in Belarus postponed until further notice

The tournament was initially set for June 16-21

© Sergei Bobylev/TASS

MINSK, April 16. /TASS/. The 2020 European Fencing Championships, which was scheduled to be held in the Belarusian capital of Minsk between June 16 and 21, has been postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dmitry Shichko, the chair of the Belarusian Fencing Federation, announced on Thursday.

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"We have received a letter from President of the International Fencing Federation [FIE] Alisher Usmanov stating that due to the pandemic FIE decided to cancel all international sports tournaments scheduled for April-June," the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Sports and Tourism quoted Shichko as saying.

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According to the Belarusian Fencing Federation, negotiations are underway with the European Fencing Confederation on the new dates for the rescheduled European tournament in Minsk.

As of today, over 3,720 confirmed novel coronavirus cases are reported in Belarus with the death toll from the virus standing at 36, while over 200 patients have been reported to recover from COVID-19.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 2,090,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 135,200 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 516,900 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 27,938 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 2,304 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 232 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.

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