South Korea's domestic League of Legends league will be suspended for its second half, from March 9 onward, because of the spread of coronavirus in the country, Riot Games announced Tuesday.
The return of LoL Champions Korea will be announced at a further date.
Previously, the LCK had closed its media room until further notice after host Mina Kim was taken to the hospital with a fever. She tested negative for the virus, but staff and journalists were placed under an 11-hour quarantine during the test and the media room was closed shortly afterward.
LoL Champions Korea began on Feb. 5 and has yet to be played in front of a live audience this year becuase of the virus. When the media room was open, journalists wore masks and used microphone covers during interviews.
The LCK is the latest league to be postponed because of the virus. China's LoL Pro League had been suspended since their Lunar New Year break on Jan. 19. This past week, the LPL held a series of scrims between five teams that were broadcast live. On Feb. 28, the LPL announced it would return March 9 as a completely online league. Teams began the process of moving players back to their home bases, if possible. They will be subject to a 14-day mandatory quarantine following travel. Some teams, like EDward Gaming, began the process early and have their teams already back in Shanghai.
According to Reuters, as of Sunday there have been 86,500 global cases of coronavirus, most of which have occured in Wuhan and Hubei Province in China. South Korea has the second-most cases at 3,736.
