Daytime Emmy Awards postponed due to coronavirus outbreak

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences on Friday postponed the Daytime Emmy Awards that were scheduled to be held in June this year.

"Given our concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, we have decided that we will not be staging the 47th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Pasadena this coming June," read an official statement.

"As there are so many unknowns right now with the flow of information changing on a daily, almost hourly, basis, it would simply be irresponsible to move forward with our annual celebration of excellence in daytime television at this time," the statement further read.

An official announcement was also made on the official Twitter handle of Daytime Emmys.

"In light of #COVID19, we sadly cannot move forward with our planned trio of ceremonies for 2000+ attendees in June. We are working on alternative ways to best recognize our honorees and will share more details in the weeks ahead," tweeted the organisation.

Expressing his disappointment over the delay in the 47th edition of the annual awards, the Executive Director of Daytime Emmy Awards, Brent Stanton said, "this does not mean we will not be celebrating the work selected for recognition in our Awards judging processes."

"Judging continues, and we look forward to announcing our incredibly talented nominees later this Spring. We are working on some interesting alternative ideas for how to best recognize the honorees later this year and will share more details in the weeks ahead," Stanton added.

Earlier in the day, Cannes Film Festival was also pushed back amid the growing health concerns around the highly contagious virus which has claimed over 9,800 deaths.