While the final two stages of the UAE Tour have been cancelled and Italian races in March such as Strada Bianche and Milan-San Remo are still under suspicion, the Flanders Classics will be held as usual on Saturday with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad amid the coronavirus outbreak. It is "business as usual," including the fact that the race will be held "as usual.

The Flanders Classic, along with Omloop, hosts a number of races in Belgium during the spring classic season in March and April, including Ghent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders.

As well as the UAE Tour, the coronavirus outbreak has resulted in more than 80,000 infections and 2,500 deaths worldwide, causing the Tour of Hainan and all races held in China in April and May to be postponed.

Speaking to Cycling News at the start of the Omloop in Ghent, race director Scott Sunderland said he hoped to avoid "hysteria" from the spread of the virus.

"We've been in touch with the Belgian health and welfare authorities and they're saying, 'Look, at this point there's nothing anywhere in Belgium and there's no indication that anything is going to happen.' They said we should wait and see what happens as usual and that they will tell us if they need anything in the near future," Sunderland said. [This is a wait-and-see situation and there is no room for hysteria. All national federations have processes and protocols in place and we are in contact and communication with them."

Following Omloop, the Flanders Classic will be held on March 29 in Ghent-Wevelgem, followed by the Doire de Flanderen, Tour of Flanders, Scheldeprijs, and Brabants Pile.

Sunderland said it has no concerns at this stage about all these races taking place as usual.

"We don't need to worry. I'm aware of it, but I'm not worried about it."

"Today's race has changed absolutely nothing and nothing is on the radar.

The unrest surrounding the Italian race stems from a surge of infections in Lombardy, where the Milan-San Remo race starts, while the UAE race was cancelled due to suspected infections brought into the UAE from Italy.

Sunderland explained that there is not much that can be done to mitigate the threat of the virus at such an international event unless the border is closed completely.

"We can't narrow it down to cycling. In soccer, Ghent was playing Roma on Thursday, and I was walking to the grocery store and it was full of Roma fans." Belgium is a big transit country and a lot of people pass through here. Unless we seal all the borders, what can we do?

"It will be a very bespoke situation; in the UAE we have closed hotels, but different countries do different things. In Switzerland they have said they will cancel all events with more than 1,000 people. I don't know if that is extreme or not. Such conclusions can only be drawn after the fact."