US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the Republican National Convention scheduled to take place in Jacksonville, Florida, will not go ahead as planned because the state is experiencing a spike in coronavirus cases.
"The timing for this event is not right. It is just not right with what is happened recently, the (coronavirus) flare-up in Florida," Trump told reporters.
"I told my team, it is time to cancel the Jacksonville, Florida component of the (Republican National) Convention," he said.
Trump informed the opening of the convention set to take place on August 24 in Charlotte, North Carolina, will proceed as planned and events scheduled in Jacksonville will likely be conducted virtually.
"We will have a very nice something, we will figure it out. It will be online in some form, maybe, it will be something even a little bit different. We have time. We are talking about the end of August," he said.
The US President added that he informed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other state and local officials of the decision.
The Republicans moved the convention to Jacksonville from the state of North Carolina last month over worries that state and local authorities would not accommodate Trump's push for a large event to begin the final stretch of his 2020 campaign. (Sputnik/)
( With inputs from ANI )