Miley Cyrus, Pearl Jam, Madonna, BTS and and More Cancel Concerts Amid Global Coronavirus Fears

Amid continuing concerns about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), many concerts and events are being canceled or postponed.

Miley Cyrus announced on Monday night that she would no longer be traveling to Australia for an upcoming bushfire relief benefit concert.

“Australia: Due to the recommendations of local, state, federal and international government authorities, including the Center for Disease Control, to reduce potential health risks in response to the current global health crisis, we are no longer traveling to Aus for the show,” she wrote.

“I am so disappointed to not be there, but I have to do what is right to protect the health and safety of my band and crew,” she added. “I will still be making a donation to help the victims of the Australian bush fire. I’m sorry to miss everyone in Australia, but I will be back soon.”

Shortly after Cyrus made her announcement, World Tour Melbourne announced that the March 13 event was canceled and all fans would be receiving a full refund. However, their World Tour Bushfire Relief concert on Saturday, headlined by Robbie Williams, “will still be going ahead,” they wrote in a statement, noting that the musician was already en route to Australia.

Pearl Jam also announced on Monday that they would be postponing the first leg of their upcoming concert tour, which was scheduled to kick off on March 18.

“As residents of the city of Seattle, we’ve been hit hard and have witnessed firsthand how quickly these disastrous situations can escalate,” the band said in their statement. “We’ve worked hard with all our management and business associates to find other solutions or options but the levels of risk to our audience and their communities is simply too high for our comfort level.

They also called out the Trump administration for its handling of the outbreak so far.

“It certainly hasn’t helped that there’s been no clear messages from our government regarding people’s safety and our ability to go to work,” the rock band continued. “Having no examples of our national health department’s ability to get ahead of this, we have no reason to believe that it will be under control in the coming weeks ahead.”

Madonna’s upcoming tour dates in Paris have also been canceled.

“Following official notification from the Office of the Police this morning prohibiting all events with an audience attendance of over 1000, Live Nation regrets to announce the final two Madame X performances previously re-scheduled to 10-March and 11-March are forced to be canceled,” read a statement on the singer’s website.

These recent announcements are only the latest round of cancellations.

BTS and Green Day announced last week that they would be canceling several upcoming shows in Asia, where the virus has spread dramatically.

BTS, whose highly anticipated Map of the Soul world tour was set to kick off in Seoul, South Korea, pulled the April 11, 12, 18 and 19 shows in response to the region’s health concerns.

“The current global coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has made it impossible at this time to predict the scale of the outbreak during the dates of the concert in April, alongside increasing uncertainty about the cross-border movement of concert staff and equipment,” read a statement from the K-pop boy band, translated from Korean, according to Variety.

Avril Lavigne has also postponed upcoming concerts in Asia, Italy and France, and Ciara, who is pregnant with baby no. 3, has postponed a performance in Fort Hood, Texas, under the recommendation of her doctors.

Additionally, Mariah Carey will be pushing back an upcoming show in Hawaii to November, due to “evolving international travel restrictions.”

As cases of COVID-19 continue to rise across the globe, a number of public celebrations have also been nixed, including Austin’s annual SXSW festival, Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade and the Indian Wells tennis tournament, which was set to begin in California on March 9.

115,829 people have been infected across 115 countries, with 4,087 cases resulting in death, as of Tuesday. In the United States, there have been 755 confirmed cases, with the majority in Washington state, California and New York.

The CDC says the best prevention methods are basic forms of hygiene — careful hand washing, avoiding touching the face, moving away from people who are coughing or sneezing and staying home at signs of illness.

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