Amid growing concern across the world over the spread of the coronavirus, many K-pop acts and related entities are canceling or postponing shows in Southeast Asia and taking precautions to protect concertgoers in the region.
With South Korea reporting 11 confirmed cases of the virus, artists are taking precautions to keep crowds from congregating and potentially leading to outbreaks during events held throughout the country, and others throughout Asia.
Some prominent events, including three stadium shows of GOT7’s world tour set to be held in Thailand and Singapore next month, as well as overseas events by Taeyeon and NCT Dream, have been postponed, while others, like TWICE’s Tokyo fan signing events set to be held on Feb. 1 and 2, have also reportedly been canceled.
Other artists, such as Infinite’s Kim Sung Kyu, have said they will take precautions at the venues of their upcoming South Korean concerts to ensure the health of audiences, including providing face masks and disinfectants.
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Some K-pop events, like upcoming televised weekly K-pop music shows and several showcases for new releases, have announced that they will do without a live audience for the time being.
Big Hit Entertainment, home to BTS and TXT, also canceled plans to open their upcoming corporate briefing to a live audience, though a video of it will be shared on the company’s YouTube channel.
The “novel coronavirus” (nCoV) is a new virus that was first discovered in Wuhan province in China on Dec. 31. It can cause respiratory failure and be spread from person to person. As of Friday, there were more than 9,800 confirmed cases, nearly all in China, with 106 cases spread across 19 other countries, including in Europe and North America. There have been 213 deaths from the virus, according to the World Health Organization.
The Chinese government has quarantined some 50 million people in Wuhan and 15 other cities in China.
For the moment, only K-pop events in the first part of February have been affected, but it’s unclear how health concerns over the virus will impact some big future events, including promotions for BTS’ upcoming Feb. 21 release Map of the Soul: 7, and the debut performances from upcoming YG Entertainment boy band Treasure.
Feb. 9 update: K-pop acts continue to postpone and delay events. Seventeen’s high profile Ode to You world tour has canceled all of its upcoming dates in February and March.