Coachella officially postponed by six months to October over coronavirus after disease spreads in California
COACHELLA 2020 has officially been postponed for six months until October due to fears over the coronavirus outbreak.
The event, held every year in , had been set to kick off on April 10, but will now take place on October 9, 10 and 11 and October 16, 17 and 18.
Concert promoter Goldenvoice announced the delay in a statement on Tuesday.
They said: "At the direction of the County of Riverside and local health authorities, we must sadly confirm the rescheduling of Coachella and Stagecoach due to COVID-19 concerns.
"While this decision comes at a time of universal uncertainty, we take the safety and health of our guests, staff and community very seriously.
"We urge everyone to follow the guidelines and protocols put forth by public health officials."
The statement continued: "All purchases for the April dates will be honored for the rescheduled October dates.
"Purchasers will be notified by Friday, March 13 on how to obtain a refund if they are unable to attend.
"Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you in the desert this fall."
Goldenvoice also announced that the two-day country music festival Stagecoach, set to kick off on April 24 in the same grounds, will be postponed until October 23.
It comes after an inside source exclusively confirmed to The Sun that the concert was going to be pushed back to October.
Questions had been raised about the festival in recent days after health officials in Riverside County confirmed the first case of the virus on Sunday.
The Riverside County Department of Public Health confirmed a further three cases in the Coachella Valley on Monday.
Reports had suggested that the festival's promoter, Goldenvoice, about whether it should go ahead.
They were thought to be contacting artists to try to move the festival to the weekends of October 9-11 and 19-21 while preserving the line-up, reported.
Postponing the event instead of calling it off altogether could help organisers shield themselves from having to trigger cancellation insurance that may not cover communicable diseases, reported.
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Concerns had been raised locally about the likely impact on the local economy of cancelling such a significant event.
The news also comes just days after the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, which had been set to be held near the site of the festival, was also cancelled.
This year's line-up had included headline performances from Rage Against the Machine, Travis Scott, and Frank Ocean as well as appearanes by Calvin Harris, Tyler, the Creater, and Bishop Briggs.
It was scheduled to take place over April 10-12 and 17-19, the dates still listed on the festival's official .
More than 760 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in the United States and 27 have died since the first case was confirmed in late January.
The virus has infected at least 116,000 people globally and killed more than 4,000 since it first broke out in the city of Wuhan in eastern China in mid-December.
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