One of the most prestigious races in the world, the Berlin Marathon is the home of the men's marathon world record held by Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge after he ran 2 hours 1min 39sec in 2018. 

Last year that was nearly bettered by Ethiopian distance running legend Kenenisa Bekele who was two seconds short of the record in 2:01:41.

Due to the local Government restrictions, which aim to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the fate of the 2020 edition is unknown with organisers stressing they will inform the public as soon as possible.

"We will now deal with the consequences of the official prohibition of our events, coordinate the further steps and inform you as soon as we can," a statement said.

In Germany alone, there have been more than 148,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, resulting in the deaths of over 5,000 people.

The global pandemic has already led to the postponement of other elite marathons including London and Boston but, having been rescheduled to the same period as the Berlin Marathon, the respective rescheduled dates of October 4 and September 14 could be affected. 

Berlin comes before Chicago and New York City as the first autumnal World Marathon Major event in the athletics calendar, and had 62,444 participants last year.

Despite outlets suggesting the event has been cancelled, there has been no official statement yet on whether it will be postponed, cancelled, or restricted to less than 5,000 people.

The Tokyo Marathon in March was restricted to elite runners due to the outbreak of the virus in Japan.