Japan on Wednesday cancelled several prayer meetings to mark the ninth anniversary of a powerful earthquake-triggered tsunami in wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

In 2012, Japan was hit by a strong 9.0-magnitude earthquake that triggered a tsunami which obliterated swathes of the nation’s northeastern seaboard, leaving more than 15,000 people dead and triggering the worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Amid coronavirus outbreak across the world, a ceremony held in Tokyo and supported by the government was cancelled for the first time since 2012, although Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he will deliver a national address from his official residence and observe a moment of silence, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Areas hardest-hit by the triple disasters, including Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures have cancelled or greatly scaled back ceremonies that have in the past been held to offer prayers for the lives lost and hopes for the future recovery of lives affected in the devastated regions.

Earlier on Tuesday, Japan had 59 new cases of coronavirus infection and the total infections have risen to 1,278 cases, including 696 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

The global death toll due to COVID-19 coronavirus has reached 4,012 in the outbreak that has spread to over 100 countries with more than 110,000 cases of infection.

Earlier in the day, UK MP Nadine Dorries, a minister in the health department has tested positive for coronavirus, raising concerns about whether senior government figures have been infected.

The Conservative MP said in a statement, “I can confirm I have tested positive for coronavirus… and have been self-isolating at home”.

Health officials are now trying to trace where she contracted the virus and who she has been in contact with, she added.

According to the reports, six people have died in Britain from the virus, with more than 370 confirmed cases.

Finance minister Rishi Sunak will on Wednesday unveil the government’s first post-Brexit budget, with all eyes on emergency government measures to ease the economic pain from the coronavirus outbreak.

Budget airlines Ryanair and EasyJet said they will cancel all Italian flights until early April after the government ordered the entire country locked down because of the virus, leaving thousands of people unable to return home.

More than 4,000 people have died and over 110,000 have been infected worldwide, with the majority in China, though daily infections are now growing at a much faster pace abroad.

China reported only 19 new cases on Tuesday, the lowest figure since it started to compile the data on January 21.

Seventeen cases were in Wuhan while the other two were imported from abroad. The country had been tallying thousands of cases every week in January and most of February.

The novel Coronavirus outbreak has caused alarm as it has crossed global fatalities in the 2002-03 SARS epidemic.

(With inputs from agency)