The Japanese royal family will cancel the scheduled event to celebrate King Naruhito's birthday on February 23 due to fears of corona virus.

"After reviewing the situation, we decided to cancel the public visit to the palace on the occasion of the Emperor's birthday," the Japanese royal statement said today, referring to the birthday ceremony. King Naruhito on February 23. "The emperor's arrival in the morning as well as the signing ceremony for the public will be canceled."

This is Emperor Naruhito's first birthday since he ascended to the throne last year. The last time the Emperor's birthday was canceled was in 1996, after the hostages were abducted at the Japanese embassy in Peru at an event held to celebrate the king's birthday. In December 2018, about 82,000 people gathered at the palace to listen to the final speech on the birthday of former Emperor Akihito.

Birthday celebration of Emperor Naruhito was canceled amid a growing Japanese concern over the spread of the corona virus. The country currently records 65 positive cases for nCoV. In addition, at least 355 people aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in quarantine at the Port of Yokohama were also identified as infected with the virus, making it the largest outbreak outside of China.

The quarantine period will end on February 19, but many countries have decided to evacuate their citizens as the number of cases on board has increased rapidly. The United States is the first country to repatriate citizens and Australia, Canada, Italy ... also have similar intentions.

Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato yesterday warned that the country was "entering a new phase" of the disease.

"We want to ask people to avoid unnecessary gatherings. We want the elderly and people who have previously been sick to avoid crowded places," he said.

Local media said the content for amateur Tokyo Marathon amateur athletes, scheduled to take place on March 1, will also be canceled due to concerns related to the corona virus.