Cirque du Soleil's China shows cancelled over coronavirus outbreak concerns

Chinese officials have requested the temporary closing of all indoor activities with 100 or more people to stem more potential coronavirus outbreaks.

As a result, to preserve the safety of its audiences and employees, Cirque du Soleil has cancelled all performances of Cirque du Soleil: The Land of Fantasy in Hangzhou, China, until further notice.

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“Right now, we all have the responsibility to step up, and to do preventive activities. We are going to keep leading in this effort by putting people’s health and safety as our top priority,” says Daniel Lamarre, president and CEO, Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group. ”We’re going to continue to make sure that our partner Hangzhou Xintiandi Group who is managing the show, will put in place appropriate measures to further protect our audience members against the spread of the virus.”

The Montreal-based circus company says they’ve been working with its partner, Hangzhou Xintiandi Group, and the Canadian Embassy and the Quebec Government office in Shanghai to “closely monitor the situation.”

Cirque du Soleil has issued an apology to its audiences and stated the situation is “beyond its control.”

Hangzhou, located roughly 700 kilometres east of Wuhan — where the coronavirus was first detected in December — has a population of over 9.8 million people.