Russia has offered to host the 2020 Ice Hockey World Championship if the tournament needs to be moved from Switzerland due to the spread of the new coronavirus, IIHF President Rene Fasel told Sputnik on Wednesday

ST. PETERSBURG (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2020) Russia has offered to host the 2020 Ice Hockey World Championship if the tournament needs to be moved from Switzerland due to the spread of the new coronavirus, IIHF President Rene Fasel told Sputnik on Wednesday.

Fasel said in a phone interview that he had recently visited Russia and discussed such a possibility with the Russian officials.

The tournament is currently scheduled to be held in Zurich and Lausanne from May 8-24.

The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health announced earlier in the day that nearly 100 people had tested positive for coronavirus, with 54 confirmed and another 39 pending. In order to contain the spread of COVID-19, the government has banned all major events involving more than 1,000 people until at least March 15, 2020.

All top-tier Swiss football and ice-hockey games have also been called off.