New York (CNN Business) Facebook announced on Thursday that it is canceling F8, its biggest annual event, due to concerns over the coronavirus.

"We've made the difficult decision to cancel the in-person component of F8 this year, in order to prioritize the health and safety of our developer partners, employees and everyone who helps put F8 on," the company wrote on the F8 website.

In a blog post, Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, who heads Facebook's platform partnerships, said it was a "tough call to make." Instead of holding one large event for developers, the company said it plans to hold "locally hosted events, videos and live-streamed content."

At F8, Facebook typically shares its future vision for the company and teases new features and products. Past announcements have included Facebook Dating testing hiding likes on Instagram and a redesign of Facebook's logo, mobile app and website.

This year's event was originally scheduled to take place in early May in San Jose, California.

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