The Berlin Marathon will not take place this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisers have announced.

It’s the first time the annual event has been cancelled since it was first run in 1974, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Marathon was scheduled to take place on September 26 and 27, but organizers revealed that finding an alternative date this year was not possible.

They added that all registered participants are able to either transfer their places to next year’s event or apply for a refund.

The Berlin Senate approved social restrictions early in April to ban all major events with more than 5,000 people before October 24.

Earlier, the New York City Marathon, set to take place on November 1, was also cancelled due to health and safety concerns. American public health experts have said mass events, particularly those that bring people together from across the globe, will remain a danger until a treatment or a vaccine for COVID-19 is widely available.

The experts have also issued warnings about another wave of infections this autumn in the United States, with new cases rising across many states.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought the entire world to a standstill and the sporting arena is no exception. Most of the high profile tournaments including the Olympics and Paralympics stand postponed.

Even the biggest cricketing spectacle on the planet, the Indian Premier League (IPL), stands suspended indefinitely owing to the coronavirus pandemic. Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Premier League have recently become the high-profile sporting events to resume after almost a three month period with almost no sporting activity.

A few cricketing boards around the world have only recently granted permission to their players to resume training.

The move to restart sporting leagues and tournaments comes after governments are beginning to realise that the coronavirus is here to stay for quite some time and sports among other businesses will need to find a way to co-exist with it.

The virus has already infected more than 9.3 million people around the world while claiming over 480 thousand lives. There is still no sure shot treatment of the disease and social-distancing, self-isolation and maintenance of basic hand hygiene remain the only potent weapons of protecting oneself from contracting the infection.

(With inputs from IANS)