Sporting and cultural events are called off

Many major gatherings suspended due to outbreak as Europe becomes epicentre

Scores of major sporting and cultural events were suspended along with local elections in England as the toll from coronavirus rose again.

The death of the first patient in Scotland took the total for the UK to 11 as health authorities also recorded another big jump in positive tests – up to 798 as of 9am yesterday, up from 590 at the same point on Thursday.

The World Health Organisation said Europe has now become the epicentre of the pandemic.

The developments came as experts defended the government’s response to the virus amid criticism from former health secretary Jeremy Hunt and others.

The UK’s chief scientific adviser said it was hoped the government’s approach to tackling coronavirus will create a “herd immunity” to the disease.

Sir Patrick Vallance said some of the social distancing measures put in place, including self-isolating for seven days if symptoms develop, are “actually quite extreme”.

His comments came as Mr Hunt questioned the government’s decision not to cancel large gatherings.

But many sports bodies did not wait for a government directive and suspended competitions anyway.

And Boris Johnson announced that local and mayoral elections in May were being postponed for a year.

On another day of dramatic developments in the spread of Covid-19:

The 2020 London Marathon, originally scheduled to take place on April 26, was postponed until October 4;

The Football Association announced the Premier League will be suspended until April 4;

Next week’s Champions League and Europa League matches were also postponed, as was the Wales v Scotland Six Nations rugby match. England’s cricket tour of Sri Lanka was also called off;

Disneyland closed its parks, including Disneyland Paris, until the end of the month and suspended new departures on its Disney cruises;

A London Underground tube driver tested positive, while London’s St Patrick’s Day parade and celebrations tomorrow were cancelled;

The first cases of community transmission of Covid-19 not linked to travel were detected in Northern Ireland.

Picture: PA. Tourists wearing masks at Buckingham Palace.