The Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) annual conference, due to be held in April, has been postponed until later this year due to fears over the novel coronavirus – which has now been renamed COVID-19.

The conference, which is to be held in Shanghai, China, will now take place on 18-21 October.

A statement from the IPBA says its officers have been monitoring travel and governmental restrictions caused by the virus.

“After very thorough analysis and careful consideration, it was determined that in the best interest of our members, the IPBA 30th annual meeting and conference in Shanghai will be postponed from its original schedule of April 20-23, 2020 to October 18-21, 2020,” the statement says.

“The order of events of the current schedule as it appears on the conference web site will remain the same, and the conference will be held as planned at the Shanghai International Conference Center and other venues as arranged.”

The IPBA says delegates who have registered for the conference already will automatically be registered for the new dates under their same registered conditions.

According to the World Health Organization there have been almost 45,000 confirmed cases in China alone with more than 1,100 deaths