Ice Hockey-Coronavirus ends Slovak hockey season without a winner

Slovakia's top-flight hockey league will scrap the rest of its season without crowning a champion due to tightening measures to contain the spread of the new coronavirus in the country.

The Slovak Ice Hockey Federation announced the end of the season on its website on Wednesday after league clubs took the decision. Playoff games were due to start this month.

On Monday, the government banned all sporting events for 14 days as part of new measures to combat the outbreak in Europe. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the central European country of 5.5 million has risen to 10 since the first detection in a patient was announced on March 6.