Several sporting events have been canceled in France to curb the spread of the coronavirus Covid-19, but the 2020 Paris-Nice is likely to take place.

Representatives of various French sports organizations attended a meeting with Youth and Sports Minister Roxana Marassineanu in Paris on Tuesday morning. It was later confirmed that the French Cross Country Athletics Championships in Montauban had been canceled, but Minister Marassineanu said that for the time being, Paris-Nice would be held as planned.

According to RMC Sport, "It is an international event, but the teams are mostly tested. There aren't that many spectators along the way. In Nice, a crowd of up to 3,000 is expected, and the race will not pass through the French danger zone."

The event will be held in the same area as the race, and will be held at the same time as the race itself.

Malachineanu added, however, that Paris-Nice could still be affected if local authorities deem it appropriate to impose further restrictions on the gathering of people in the coming days.

"The prefectures and mayors remain free to apply more stringent measures as the situation develops in each of the areas through which the race passes," she said.

Paris-Nice will start on Sunday in Plaisir, in the Yvelines department west of Paris, and will close in Nice on the 15th. Egan Bernal won last year's race and is among those expected to participate in 2020.

In France, 191 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed, with the worst affected area being the Oise department north of Paris, where 64 cases have been reported. In response, the French government has restricted indoor gatherings of more than 5,000 people, and last weekend's Paris Half Marathon was cancelled.

On Tuesday, it was announced that matches in the top two divisions of the French soccer league will also be played as scheduled this weekend, but the match between Chambly and Le Mans in the Ligue 2 Oise will be played behind closed doors.

The final two stages of the UAE tour have been cancelled and four teams remain quarantined in Abu Dhabi following a coronavirus scare during the race, but no confirmed cases of Covid 19 have been confirmed.

The race was organized by RCS Sport, which informed the teams that despite Italy having the highest number of Covid-19 cases in Europe, the upcoming Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico, and Milano-Sanremo would be held.

The two largest clusters of coronavirus in Italy are in the Lombardy region southwest of Milan and the Veneto region near Padua, where more than 1,500 people have tested positive.