Stormzy postpones Asian tour due to coronavirus

Stormzy has postponed the Asian leg of his Heavy Is the Head world tour due to coronavirus.

The south London rap star wrote on Twitter: “I was seriously looking forward to bringing the #HITH world tour to Asia and playing some epic sold-out shows but due to the ongoing health and travel concerns surrounding the coronavirus, I’m regrettably having to reschedule this leg of the tour.”

Various concert tours and cultural events have already been affected by efforts to keep the virus contained. Boston Symphony Orchestra has cancelled a tour that had been due to start this week, citing “the health and well-being of the musicians and entire tour party”. One of the orchestra’s dates was to be at the Hong Kong Arts festival, which has also been cancelled, ruling out performances by Bayerische Staatsoper and others. The US National Symphony Orchestra has cancelled three China concerts, though will perform its scheduled dates in Japan.

Last weekend, K-pop group Seventeen cancelled a world tour with dates across Asia and Europe, following other Asian pop artists including Taeyeon, Winner, NCT and Got7 who have cancelled or postponed shows.

The Dalai Lama, meanwhile, has cancelled all of his public engagements until further notice. Other major events to have been affected this week include Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the world’s largest mobile phone trade fair.