The Gulf state of Bahrain is citing coronavirus as being behind its decision, announced on Sunday morning, to make the March 22 Formula 1 Grand Prix race a televised event only. The race is the second instalment on this year’s Formula 1 circuit. “As an F1 host nation, balancing the welfare of supporters and racegoers is a tremendous responsibility,” Manama said in a Sunday morning statement. “Given the continued spread of COVID-19 globally, convening a major sporting event, which is open to the public and allows thousands of international travelers and local fans to interact in close proximity, would not be the right thing to do at the present time.” Bahrain so far is reporting 79 cases of coronavirus, most of them linked to either Iranians in the country or Bahrain nationals who returned from Iran, which is considered the Middle Eastern epicenter for the epidemic. Manama also announced on Sunday that aside from barring all foreign nationals entering from Iran, it was now urging all people arriving from Italy, South Korea, Egypt and Lebanon to self-quarantine for a period of two weeks. On Thursday, it extended a two-week closure of all universities, schools and pre-schools for an identical period of time.