MELBOURNE, March 31 (Reuters) - An outbreak of COVID-19 in Australia's northern state of Queensland has forced Supercars organisers to postpone the Tasmania round of the motorsport championship.
The Tasmania SuperSprint, which was scheduled for April 10-11 at Symmons Plains, had been pushed back by a week after the island state shut its border to travellers from Queensland capital Brisbane.
"In light of the current COVID-19 situation in Brisbane, Supercars has made the precautionary decision to delay the upcoming .... Tasmania SuperSprint by one week," Supercars organisers said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Red Bull Racing team is based in Brisbane, while two other teams are based in the nearby Gold Coast region.
Last year's Tasmanian round of the V8 touring car circuit was postponed from April as Australia went into lockdown but never rescheduled.
More than two million residents of Australia's third-largest city Brisbane have been asked to stay home until Thursday evening as authorities rush to contain two separate coronavirus clusters, which have grown to 17 cases.