Cannes Film Festival to be rescheduled, says its board

PARIS -- The 2020 Festival de Cannes cannot be held on the scheduled dates from May 12 to 23 and several options are considered in order to preserve its running, its board said on Thursday evening.

The main option is "a simple postponement, in Cannes, until the end of June-beginning of July, 2020," said the board in a statement.

"As soon as the development of the French and international health situation will allow us to assess the real possibility, we will make our decision known, in accordance with our ongoing consultation with the French government and Cannes City Hall as well as with the Festival's Board Members, Film industry professionals and all the partners of the event," it said.

In the meantime, the Festival de Cannes lends its vocal support to all of those who firmly call on everyone to respect the general lockdown, and ask to show solidarity in these difficult times for the entire world, the statement added.

As of Thursday, France has confirmed 10,995 cases of coronavirus infection, with 1,122 people hospitalized in intensive care and 372 deaths.

Globally, the number of infection cases stood above 200,000 with nearly 10,000 deaths. Dozens of countries have imposed national confinement aimed at containing the spreading virus.