IIHF announced the cancellation of the Ice Hockey World Championship Division One competitions ©Getty Images

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) have announced the cancellation of the Ice Hockey World Championship Division One competitions.

Action in group one has been cancelled, with competition originally scheduled to take place from April 27 to May 3 in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana.

Group two, due to be held on the same dates in the Polish city of Katowice, has also been called off. 

In addition, the IIHF Council held a conference call to discuss the latest developments regarding this year's World Championship, with competition scheduled for May 8 to 24 in Switzerland. 

They were joined on the call by representatives from the Organising Committee, participating teams, marketing partner Infront Sports and Media and the IIHF’s main insurance broker.

"Unfortunately, at this time no major decisions related to the status of 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship could be taken," said IIHF President René Fasel. 

"The stakeholders openly discussed what has become a very complex situation with the coronavirus, which is affecting many countries as well as participating teams and various other stakeholders of the World Championship."

North America's National Hockey League is another ice hockey competition to be affected by coronavirus ©Getty Images
North America's National Hockey League is another ice hockey competition to be affected by coronavirus ©Getty Images

The IIHF informed all parties concerned that it remains in close contact with the Swiss authorities and the insurance company to monitor the coronavirus situation and its impact on the World Championship.

All IIHF committee meetings, camps and seminars have also been cancelled until June 30. 

Coronavirus cases have now exceeded 212,000 worldwide, with more than 8,700 deaths.

Switzerland has 3,076 confirmed cases, with 33 deaths. 

IIHF have already been forced to cancel or postpone a number of events.

This includes the Women's World Championship in Canada, which has now been pushed back to 2021, while the Under-18 World Championship in the United States has been cancelled.

Tournaments in the men's World Championship Division Two and Division Three in Croatia, Iceland, Luxembourg and South Africa have also been postponed.

North America's National Hockey League has been suspended, while leagues in Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland have ended their seasons early.