We know that you all are, no doubt, on pins and needles waiting for China’s yearly gathering of its rubber-stamp parliament to begin next month in Beijing but it turns out that you may need to wait a while longer still.

Because of the deadly coronavirus currently plaguing China, officials are considering postponing the annual “Two Sessions” until they get the outbreak under control, according to a Reuters report which cites five people familiar with the matter.

The “Two Sessions” refers to the meetings each March of the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference where thousands of delegates arrive in Beijing from around the country to ratify decisions that have largely already been approved beforehand by the central government.

Obviously, such a gathering would present some logistical difficulties this time around with delegates from Hubei province presumably forced to arrive a couple of weeks early to go into quarantine before heading to the Great Hall of the People.

“The focus remains on taking steps forward towards meeting on schedule, but we are discussing a range of options as the (virus) situation doesn’t look likely to be contained by March,” Reuters quotes a senior government official as saying.

“A delay is one of those options,” the official continued. “It should come as no surprise given that we are in a very difficult time.”

When asked at a regular press briefing on Thursday about the possibility of the Two Sessions being postponed, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that she hadn’t heard anything about the matter.