Trump cancels Republican National Convention in Florida due to Coronavirus spike in state

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that he has cancelled the Republican National Convention which was scheduled to take place in Jacksonville, Florida, as the state is witnessing an alarming surge in COVID-19 infections.

"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.

The opening of the Convention is scheduled on August 24 in Charlotte, North Carolina, which will go ahead as planned and events scheduled in Jacksonville will likely be conducted virtually.

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"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," Trump said.

Trump said he has informed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other state and local officials of the decision.

The president further said that Florida officials had not asked him to cancel the convention. Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and Duval County Sheriff Mike Williams released a joint statement thanking Trump for calling it off.

"We appreciate President Donald Trump considering our public health and safety concerns in making this incredibly difficult decision. As always, in Jacksonville, public safety is our number one priority. President Trump has once again reaffirmed his commitment to the safety of Jacksonville, Florida, and the people of the United States of America," the joint statement by Jacksonville Mayor and Duval County Sheriff said.

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National conventions for Presidential nominations

The National Conventions in America are a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years. Both Republicans and Democrats hold their respective conventions to nominate their chosen presidential candidate.

The Republican Convention was earlier planned in North Carolina's Charlotte but due to North Carolina officials' disagreement in view of the pandemic, the organisers shifted to Jacksonville in Trump's home state Florida, where the mayor and Florida’s governor are Trump’s allies.

On the other hand, Democrats had already cancelled most of the public facets of their August convention. Their gathering is said to be consisting largely of virtual events with a small number of people appearing in person in their host city of Milwaukee in Wisconsin.