On Thursday last week, the FIA issued a statement saying that it is closely monitoring the evolution of the coronavirus outbreak in China and "is evaluating the calendar of its forthcoming races” and, if necessary, will “take any action required to help protect the global motorsport community and the wider public.”

Over the weekend the Formula E in Sanya, scheduled for March 21, was officially postponed. It is by no means the only sporting event to have been impacted with the 18th World Athletics Indoor Championships, which were scheduled to be held from March 13-15 in Nanjing, having already been postponed until March 2021. The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, scheduled for February 15-16 in Yanqing has been called off and a number of other sports have postponed, cancelled or transferred events elsewhere, including an international tennis tournament that was to happen this week in Dongguan, Olympic boxing qualifiers for Asia and Oceania due to take place in Wuhan, an Olympic basketball qualifying tournament, which was to take place in Foshan and the first X Games winter event which was to have been held in Chongli on February 21-23 has been called off, along with Asia Horse Week, scheduled for February 13-16 at the AsiaWorld-Expo Centre in Hong Kong.

It is far too early to be able to make any reliable predictions about the full impact of the Novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV, which began in Wuhan, in the Hubei province, 500 miles to the west of Shanghai, in December. The number of people infected is increasing rapidly, having gone from 2,014 cases on January 26 to 17,205 cases today (according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The death toll this morning stood at 361. Almost all of those who have died are over 40 and about a third of them had pre-existing health problems. The WHO has declared a global emergency, although there has been only one death to date outside China, this being a resident of Wuhan who had travelled to the Philippines.

Not enough is known about the virus for researchers to be able to draw definitive conclusions about its full clinical features, nor the intensity of the human-to-human transmission. The impact of the virus will depend on how contagious it proves to be. Efforts are therefore underway to contain the outbreak in China as much as possible and to identify and quarantine people who leave China with the virus to avoid a pandemic, which is effectively a global outbreak. Developing a vaccine is the top priority and researchers around the world are already working to do that, but vaccine development is a lengthy process and even if all goes well, it is likely to be a year before a vaccine is ready to go into production.

In response to the WHO warning, a number of countries have barred the arrival of foreigners from China and are requiring their own citizens to undergo quarantine after visits to China. The US has issued a travel advisory recommending that its citizens do not travel to China, and a string of airlines have cancelled all flights to the country.

There is also the economic impact to be taken into consideration as was seen earlier today when the Chinese stock markets plunged nearly nine percent on Monday, the first day of trading after the Chinese New Year holiday, amid fears of what the endemic will do for the economy. A staggering $450 billion in market value was wiped off listed Chinese companies today.

Most of the Formula 1 teams are based in Britain and operate under British regulations. Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is advising against all travel to Hubei Province and the British Consulate General in Wuhan has been closed. British citizens are advised to leave the province. The FCO is also advising against “all but essential travel” to the rest of mainland China and says that some staff and dependants from the British Embassy and Consulates are being withdrawn from China. The FCO also also warns that with airlines cutting services, it may not be easy to access or leave China. What is important for travellers is to know that travelling to a region which the FCO advises against visiting means that regular insurance will be invalidated. If insurance is invalidated for its staff members, the F1 teams will not travel to region in question. Thus, although the Chinese GP is still a long away ahead, it may be difficult for the event to go ahead on the date planned.

It is far too early to say much more than that, but if the endemic becomes a pandemic, then one can imagine that other countries could also be impacted. Having said that, the number of infected people remains largely concentrated in Hubei Province, with 9,000 of the 14,000 victims (on Sunday) being in the province. Since January 23 all public transport in Wuhan has stopped and residents are not allowed to leave the city without permission from the authorities. In the hours before the order came into force an estimated 300,000 people left Wuhan, but the roads, railways and airports are now all secured. Fourteen other cities in the province now have restrictions with more than 50 million people unable to travel.

Beyond Hubei, the most infected people were to be found in Zhejiang (just south of Shanghai) where there were 661 cases on Sunday, and in Guangdong, near Hong Kong, where there were 604. Shanghai itself had 177 cases.

Outside China, only 146 cases have been identified with Japan having the most with 20 cases, Thailand with 19, Singapore with 18, Korea with 15 and Australia with 12.