Katrina Kaif and Kartik Aaryan at a recent IIFA Conference in Mumbai

Highlights The IIFA Awards were scheduled for March 27-29

The awards have been postponed indefinitely

The IIFA management is expected to reveal new dates soon

With due regard to the growing concerns around the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19 virus) and keeping the health and safety of IIFA's fans and the general community at large, the organisers of IIFA has decided to postpone the three-day celebrations. After consulting the Madhya Pradesh government, the IIFA management, and stakeholders from the film industry, it has been decided to reschedule to a later date the much-awaited IIFA Weekend and the main IIFA Awards event, which were originally scheduled to be held at the end of March 2020. The IIFA Weekend was expected to kick-off on March 27 with the last Sunday of the month (March 29) being reserved for the main awards night.

Fresh dates and plans for hosting the IIFA Awards in Madhya Pradesh will be announced at the earliest. IIFA is fully committed to ensure the safety of the citizens and legions of IIFA fans, who travel from across the globe to attend and experience the magic of IIFA.

Recently, actress Deepika Padukone cancelled a trip to the French capital, where she was expected to attend the Paris Fashion Week, over the global outbreak of coronavirus. Deepika's actor-husband Ranveer Singh-starrer Gully Boy has as many as 14 nominations at this year's IIFA Awards. On Wednesday, Salman Khan wrote a "salaam-namaste" post in the light of the coronavirus outbreak.

Cases of the contagious coronavirus in India have risen to 31. The government has advised state governments to avoid or postpone mass gatherings, where chances of contracting the coronavirus are high. The Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 was first detected at a seafood market in China's Wuhan. It quickly spread from there.