SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - In light of uncertainties from the novel coronavirus outbreak, the organiser of Singapore's IT Show, Food & Beverage Fair and BuildTech Asia/Cargonow has postponed the three events until further notice.

The popular IT Show 2020 was supposed to take place on March 12-15 at the Suntec Convention Centre. The annual event is one of the largest consumer electronics exhibitions in the Republic.

The Food & Beverage Fair, a consumer exhibition that showcases Asian flavours from more than 200 exhibitors and products, had been scheduled for March 19-22 at the Singapore Expo.

Meanwhile, building and construction trade show BuildTech Asia/Cargonow had been set to take place on March 11-13 at the Singapore Expo.

The organiser, Sphere Exhibits, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore Press Holdings, which published The Straits Times and The Business Times.

In a media statement on Tuesday (Feb 11), Sphere Exhibits said it is delaying the events after considering the safety and health concerns of the exhibitors, partners and the public.

It will announce the new event dates when they are available.

Last week, Sphere Exhibits told BT that it had lost a handful of exhibitors from China for three events in February and March - including the IT Show and BuildTech Asia - and that some local exhibitors were also considering pulling out.

At the time, Sphere Exhibits had yet to make a decision on whether to push back the events and how to compromise in terms of penalties, if any.

The virus was first reported as a string of pneumonia-like cases in Wuhan city in late December, before the World Health Organization identified it in early January as a new strain of coronavirus.

It has since spread to over 25 countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, France, South Korea and Canada.

Singapore raised its outbreak response level to orange on on Feb 7, and the new precautionary measures include the cancelling of large-scale events if possible.