Major world music festival SXSW 2020 has been cancelled amid the global coronavirus outbreak.
The annual music, technology and film conference was due to be staged in Austin, Texas, and is one of the largest globale events to be cancelled so far amid the virus panic.
The City of Austin's Mayor Steve Adler declared a local disaster due to concerns over the coronavirus as he announced the decision to cancel the event, according to US reports.
SXSW tonight confirmed Austin's city officials had cancelled the March event, which attracted more than 73,000 attendees from around the globe last year and was on track to match the crowd numbers again.
The organisers' statement in response to Austin's decision said: "We are devastated to share this news with you. “The show must go on” is in our DNA, and this is the first time in 34 years that the March event will not take place. We are now working through the ramifications of this unprecedented situation."
"As recently as Wednesday, Austin Public Health stated that 'there’s no evidence that closing SXSW or any other gatherings will make the community safer.'
"However, this situation evolved rapidly, and we honor and respect the City of Austin’s decision. We are committed to do our part to help protect our staff, attendees, and fellow Austinites."
Spin-off event SXSW EDU is also cancelled, organisers said.
The organisers planned to explore options including running a virtual online event "as soon as possible."
The cancellations comes after pivotal tech and social media giants began pulling out of the festival.
Facebook, Twitter and TikTok pulled out of the conferences as the companies began limiting travel for employees amid the global virus outbreak.
The major employers were asking employees to work from home in many locations amid the virus fears.
A change.org petition demanding the event be cancelled and calling it 'irresponsible' amid the health threat had reached more than 55,000 signatures before the decision was announced tonight.
The City of Austin announced its decision to cancel the event in a live press conference on Friday afternoon, local time.
