DOHA

Qatar canceled an international maritime defense exhibition on Tuesday because of concerns sparked by the novel coronavirus.

The Doha International Maritime Defense Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX) canceled the seventh edition of the event after it "held extensive consultations with officials from the Ministry of Health and the government of Qatar about the convening of DIMDEX," its organization said in a statement.

"Although the risks to the general public are still low, our main priority is to maintain public health in Qatar. For this reason, it was decided not to hold this event.”

The global death toll from the novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, has reached 3,044, with more than 89,000 infected.

The World Health Organization, which already declared the outbreak an international health emergency, has updated the global risk level to ‘very high.’

*Bassel Ibrahim contributed to this report from Ankara