The annual national indoor championships were set to be staged at Glasgow's Emirates Arena on February 20 and 21.

UK Athletics cited concerns over the virus, the safety of all involved and the "wider social responsibility" to reduce COVID-19 transmission as its main reasons for the cancellation.

"The decision was taken in light of the ongoing pandemic to ensure the safety of all those due to participate; athletes, coaches, technical officials, volunteers, event and venue staff as well as protecting the Glasgow community," the organisation said in a statement.

"At the present time, the process of testing all those attending the Championships from across the United Kingdom, seen as an essential measure, would not sufficiently mitigate the risks.

"British Athletics recognises our wider social responsibility to reduce COVID-19 transmission and to not over-burden the National Health Service.

"While elite sport has been granted the privilege of an exemption to enable training and competition to continue, the logistics of safely staging a national championships comprising approximately 500+ attendees based across the UK and overseas need to be balanced with the risks to those involved, the local community, and the current medical climate."

UK Athletics is working to enable COVID-19-compliant qualification events for the European Indoor Athletics Championships, scheduled to take place from March 5 to 7 in Torun in Poland, on a smaller scale across the country.

Glasgow held one of the last indoor athletics competitions before the COVID-19 outbreak forced the shutdown of sport - the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix, held as part of the World Athletics Indoor Tour.

At the event in February 2020, Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis broke the men's indoor world record with a height of 6.18 metres.