MADRID – The ceremony for the International King of Spain Journalism Awards, scheduled for March 23 in Madrid, has been postponed as a preventative measure to fight the spread of the coronavirus, which is badly affecting the Spanish capital.

The ceremony was scheduled to take place at the Casa de America, but the Madrid cultural institution has canceled all activities until March 26 following recommendations issued by health authorities.

The resumption of the institution’s activities is to depend on further instructions from the health officials and a new date is to be announced in the near future, Agencia EFE, one of the two entities that organize the awards, said on Wednesday.

The International King of Spain Journalism Awards and the Quijote Prize, awarded to Ibero-American journalists and media, were to be presented on March 23 at a ceremony presided by King Felipe VI.

Spain on Wednesday registered 2,002 cases of coronavirus, the Spanish Ministry of Health said, and over half, 1,024, have occurred in the region where the Spanish capital is located. In addition, 47 people have died in Spain because of the disease, of which 31 correspond to Madrid.

The Madrid region, with a population of more than six million people, is experiencing Wednesday its first day of two weeks of no classes at kindergartens, schools and universities, the suspension of events with more than a 1,000 attendees, and the closure of libraries and cultural, social and sports centers in the City of Madrid.

Agencia EFE and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, which forms part of the Spanish Foreign Ministry, organize the King of Spain International Journalism Awards, which will be held for the 37th time in 2020, to recognize the work of Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking journalists from Ibero-American countries.