This years’ staging of the annual ISSA Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Athletics Championships has been cancelled.

This follows a stakeholders meeting on Wednesday which involved representatives of ISSA, main sponsors Grace Kennedy and ministers of government including Dr. Christopher Tufton (health), Olivia Grange (sports) and Karl Samuda (stand in education).

According to ISSA president Keith Wellington the decision was arrived at as they could not guarantee a safe environment for patrons and athletes.

There is also a possibility that all ISSA events as of today will also be cancelled.

The development follows the revelation on Tuesday by the Dr. Tufton of the first case of COVID-19 in Jamaica.

The affected female, who has dual Jamaican-UK citizenship, arrived in on March 4 but did not show symptoms until March 9 when she went to her doctor and was tested.

Tufton on Wednesday also disclosed via social media that a second imported case has been confirmed in Jamaica.

He said the patient is an employee of the US Embassy in Kingston who had recently returned from the United Kingdom.

The Kingston City Marathon, scheduled for Sunday, has been cancelled because of the increasing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, Covid-19 while no Jamaican school/college will participate at this years’ staging of the Penn Relays.