The German city was originally scheduled to host the stage on July 10 and 11, but World Triathlon has announced that it will no longer take place during that time slot.

Citing "ongoing restrictions related with the pandemic" as the reason for the postponement, World Triathlon said it was now working with organisers to put the event on in Hamburg later this year.

"The organisers and DTU [German Triathlon Federation] are working with the City of Hamburg to secure a new race date in the year, working with World Triathlon on refining operational plans in a manner consistent with local community objectives and within the guidelines and recommendations set by public health entities as it relates to COVID-19," a statement from World Triathlon read.

"We want to express our gratitude to the athletes and the whole triathlon community, sponsors, broadcasters and fans for their continued understanding and look forward to returning with a great event later this year."

Germany registered a further 2,294 cases and 122 deaths from coronavirus yesterday.

While the Hamburg leg has been postponed, the Leeds stage is set to go ahead as planned tomorrow.

The English city is presenting a brand-new course where male and female athletes will battle it out for places at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The Olympic qualification period is due to close on June 14, meaning athletes’ performances in Leeds could play a key role in boosting their ranking.

The postponement of the Hamburg stage was approved during a recent World Triathlon Executive Board meeting, held by teleconference.

It was also agreed by members that this year’s World Triathlon Age-Group Championships will not take place in Edmonton.

The event was set to form part of the World Triathlon Championship Finals, scheduled to run from August 17 to 22 in the Canadian city.

But World Triathlon said travel restrictions caused by COVID-19 would make it "impossible" for most of the age-group athletes to travel to Canada.

"With the health and safety of our athletes and community as top priority, Government officials and public health authorities are unable to grant travel exemptions to international age-group athletes, including vaccinated travellers at this time," a statement from World Triathlon read.

"And while we hoped the COVID-19 situation regarding international travel would have improved over the past few months, unfortunately this has not been the case."

World Triathlon said the Age-Group Championships was predicted to be the "best ever" with more than 3,000 athletes expected to participate, but the governing body insisted it was still working to find an alternative location for the event.

Dutch city Almere is set to host the World Triathlon Multisport Championships in September but only the long-distance and aquabike disciplines will be held at the event.

World Triathlon confirmed the move which means sprint duathlon, standard duathlon, cross triathlon and aquathlon races will not be held as originally planned, with the event running from September 9 to 12 instead of over two weeks.

"Of course this is a very difficult decision, but at the same time the only right decision we can make," added race director Richard Belderok.