Football, Tennis Events Moved from China Due to Deadly Viral Outbreak

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and International Tennis Foundation (ITF) have announced they will move events out of China due to a deadly viral outbreak in the country.

February's Olympic qualifying tournament, which has already been moved from Wuhan to Nanjing, will now take place in Sydney, Australia, the AFC have confirmed, per ESPN.

The ITF also announced that February's regional Fed Cup qualifying event will be switched from Dongguan, China, to Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, due to concerns over the illness.

The illness has caused 56 fatalities.

The Chinese Football Association had been due to host the Olympic tournament that starts February 3 and involves Australia, China, Taiwan and Thailand.

The event was originally due to be held in Wuhan, the city at the heart of the crisis, which is currently on lockdown in an attempt to stop the spread of the outbreak.

However, the AFC issued a statement Sunday confirming the move to Sydney "because of the 'current situation' of coronavirus in the People's Republic of China."

Chris Nikou, the chairman of Football Federation Australia, said his organisation were happy to organise the tournament, which consists of six matches, at short notice:

"FFA is happy and willing to organise this Olympic Qualification Tournament, and we look forward to hosting the women’s senior national teams from China PR, Thailand and Chinese Taipei in February.

"The safety of all players, officials and fans is of paramount importance to Football Federation Australia and the Asian Football Confederation, and we are confident we will host a successful tournament here in Sydney."

The top two teams from the tournament go on to play the top teams in Group A, consisting of South Korea, Myanmar and Vietnam, for the two spots available at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Tennis has also been affected with teams from China, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Uzbekistan now heading to the National Tennis Centre in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan for the Fed Cup event that starts on February 4:

The ITF said in a statement the decision had been taken "due to increasing travel restrictions in China, P.R. at the present time and followed consultation with independent security advisors."

The top two teams from the event gain promotion and go on to play in the Fed Cup play-offs in April.

China's health minister, Ma Xiaowei, has told reporters the virus, which has infected over 2,000, can spread before symptoms show, making it more difficult to contain.