BTS have cancelled a string of shows in South Korea because of the outbreak of coronavirus.
The K-pop boyband were due to kick off their Map Of The Soul tour on April 11 and play four shows at Seoul’s Jamsil Olympic Stadium.
According to the band’s website, the first date of the tour will now be on April 25 at the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
[공지] #BTS MAP OF THE SOUL TOUR – SEOUL 공연 취소 안내 (+ENG/JPN/CHN)https://t.co/at6Qtntrbj
— BTS_official (@bts_bighit) February 28, 2020
A statement from the band’s representatives, Big Hit Entertainment, said: “The current global coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak has made it impossible at this time to predict the scale of the outbreak during the dates of the concert in April, alongside increasing uncertainty about the cross-border movement of concert staff and equipment.
“While we hope that the situation will improve, we must take into consideration the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of guests as well as our artists and the dire impact a last-minute cancellation may have on guests from overseas, production companies and staff.
“We have thus determined that, with approximately one month left before the Seoul concert is set to begin, it is unavoidable that the concert must be cancelled without further delay.
“Please understand that this decision was made after extensive and careful consideration in order to co-operate with the government’s measures on restricting public events as well as municipal advisories on the use of cultural and sports facilities.”
Tickets will be refunded and the band have apologised to fans who were looking forward to the concerts.
Stormzy has previously announced that he has rescheduled the Asia leg of his world tour because of the virus outbreak.