An older audience packed in close quarters in a sweltering theater: for virus transmission, a horrific scenario. The Bayreuth Festival 2020 has been called off, for the first time in its 144-year history due to an epidemic. Rehearsals for the new production of the opera cycle "The Ring of the Nibelung" were to begin on April 1 - but now, the "Ring" can only premiere in 2022 at the earliest.

A day after Berlin announced that performances in major state-owned venues were to be canceled until April 19, city authorities have banned all events with more than 1,000 participants as well. "The coronavirus continues to spread. In such a phase, public life must be restricted," Berlin's local Health Minister Dilek Kalayci said.

Many major concerts have been canceled, including Madonna's last two dates of her "Madame X" tour in Paris. France has banned on Sunday public gatherings of more than 1,000 people. The Paris Opera has also canceled its performances.

All Irish St. Patrick's Day parades, including Dublin's main celebration that draws around 500,000 revelers from all over the world each year, are canceled because of fears over the spread of COVID-19, state broadcaster RTE reported on Monday. Ireland's famous March 17 parades were also previously canceled in 2001 during an outbreak of foot and mouth disease.

With quarantine measures in place in northern Italy, soccer matches occurring without spectators, and Italian Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte's order to close museums, theaters and cinemas, it should come as no surprise that the Vatican has closed the doors to its museums, including the Sistine Chapel (above), until probably April 3. In the Vatican itself, five people are currently in quarantine.

This annual music, film and tech festival held in Austin, Texas, usually attracts more than 400,000 visitors. But less than a week before its March 12, 2020 start date, organizers decided to cancel in a bid to prevent the spreading of the coronavirus. There's a silver lining though: it may only be postponed and not canceled altogether.

The International Film Academy has announced that it would be postponing its awards ceremony, also known as Bollywood's Oscars, due to fears over the coronavirus outbreak. According to official numbers, India has been until now relatively unscathed by the epidemic. Actor Shah Rukh Khan (photo) was one the stars expected at the event planned for March 27; a new date has not been decided yet.

James Bond perhaps has a little more time on his hands than the title of the upcoming film in the franchise suggests: "No Time to Die" producers have decided to push back the release of the movie to November. Daniel Craig's last outing as 007 was initially planned for April. It's the first Hollywood blockbuster to shift its release schedule in reaction to the coronavirus outbreak.

The start of the world's most prestigious architecture biennale has also been delayed. Instead of opening in May, it will run from August 29 to November 29 — three months later than planned. The theme of the event takes on a new meaning amid current developments: "How do we live together?"

Due to take place March 10-12, the book fair was canceled "with reluctance," said organizers, after several major publishers such as HarperCollins and Penguin Random House pulled out of the event to avoid exposing their staff to the virus. The London Book Fair usually draws more than 25,000 authors and book industry insiders.

Europe's biggest trade fair for the music industry also announced that it was postponing the event, which was set to celebrate its 40th anniversary on April 2-4. While it was deemed to be "the only responsible and right decision to take," the cancellation is bound to affect many small businesses in the music industry, said Christian Höppner, secretary general of the German Music Council.

Change of plans for book fans: The Leipzig Book Fair, scheduled to be held March 12-15, was canceled due to the spread of the new coronavirus, a spokesperson for the fair announced on March 3. The second-largest book fair in Germany expected to draw 2,500 exhibitors from 51 countries.

Preparations for the world's largest travel fair were already in full swing when the organizers canceled it at the last minute. Due to the ongoing virus threat, participants to the Berlin fair had to prove they had not been to one of the defined risk areas. With 170,000 visitors from all over the world, this proved to be an impossible task and the fair couldn't open on March 4 as planned.

Each April, thousands of design professionals, artists and companies visit Milan to check out the latest in furniture and interior design. This year, however, organizers have announced it will be moved to June due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Milan is the capital of the Lombardy region, which has seen the lion's share of Italian coronivirus cases. Some airlines have even suspended their flights.

There is perhaps no venue more symbolic of Italy's rich operatic tradition than the La Scala opera house in Milan. Now, its seats will remain empty until March 8. Italy's Prime Minister called for the suspension of cultural events and the venue is sticking to the rules. At the time of writing, Italy has more cases of the new coronavirus than any country outside of Asia.

The reigning K-pop boy band BTS does big business with each concert, but in the wake of the virus in South Korea, the group canceled four April dates at the Seoul Olympic Stadium, which seats 69,950 people. "It's impossible to predict the scale of the outbreak," said the group's management. On Tuesday, cases in South Korea reached 5,100 with the majority of infections in the city of Daegu.

No, we aren't describing the task of containing the new coronavirus, but rather the new movie starring Tom Cruise which was supposed to have a three-week shoot in Venice. The film has been postponed, movie studio Paramount Pictures said Monday. Venice's cultural events have been hard hit by the outbreak. The final two days of lagoon city's annual Carnival festival were also canceled.

On February 28, the Swiss government imposed a ban on events of more than 1,000 people until March 15, making it the first European country to do so as a preemptive measure to fight against the spread of the illness. As a result, many concerts and events were called off, including concerts by Carlos Santana (pictured) and Alice Cooper at the 15,000-person Hellenstadion in Zürich.

The Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier canceled guest performances in Macau and Singapore due to the coronavirus outbreak. On the program were "The Lady of the Camellias," which tells the story of a famous Parisian courtesan and "Nijinsky." Whether the tour will take place at another point in time is still in the air. In spring 2021 the Hamburg Ballet plans to tour in Japan.

Tesla has emerged as the most valuable automaker amid the pandemic, eclipsing Toyota and Volkswagen, despite selling only a fraction of cars sold by the traditional behemoths. Tesla shares rose more than 100% in the second quarter during which the carmaker's sales topped estimates thanks to a rapid ramp-up in production at its Shanghai plant, which remained largely unaffected by the pandemic.

Netflix has added more than 25 million subscribers in the first six months of the year as lockdowns forced people to stay homebound. The streaming platform has gained $70 billion (€61 billion) in market capitalization this year, making it more valuable than media giants such as Walt Disney, AT&T, the parent of HBO, and Comcast, owner of NBC and Universal Studios.

The fitness startup Peloton, which makes exercise bikes and also offers online fitness classes, saw its sales jump 66% in its third quarter as stay-at-home orders and coronavirus fears prompted many fitness enthusiasts to ditch their gyms and opt for the company's offerings. In April, Peloton held its largest class ever with more than 23,000 people attending it from home.

Moderna Chief Executive Stephane Bancel (R) briefly became a billionaire after the company shipped an experimental coronavirus vaccine for clinical testing in humans, boosting its share price, Bloomberg reported. Malaysia's Lim Wee Chai (L), who owns a majority stake in medical gloves maker Top Glove, also entered the billionaire's club amid the outbreak.

Few companies have been so talked about during the past few months as teleconferencing firm Zoom. At its peak, the company attracted more than 300 million participants on some days in April, up from 10 million in December, despite some PR troubles around privacy and security issues. The company's market cap has zoomed past $70 billion, up from around $16 billion at the time of its IPO last year.

Gaming provided a perfect escape for millions stuck at home. Online games such as Call of Duty attracted tens of millions of players. The latest game, Nintendo's popular Animal Crossing franchise, sold more than 13 million units within six weeks of its launch in March. Nintendo's Switch and other consoles such as Xbox and PlayStation have seen demand soar over the past few months.

The Swedish music streaming firm saw its paid subscribers base surge to 130 million in the first quarter amid coronavirus lockdowns. The company saw usage on video game consoles such as Xbox and PlayStation soar during the period. Spotify's US-listed shares are among the top performers so far this year.

The pandemic has boosted stay-at-home stocks such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook — companies whose offerings facilitate online communication, remote working and transactions. These companies have been the main drivers of US indices over the past few months. Companies like Paypal and cloud-computing firm Twilio have also surged in the past months.

Retailers such as Germany's Rewe and France's Carrefour saw food items fly off their shelves during the initial days of the pandemic as panicking shoppers stock up their pantries. The rush at the supermarkets prompted investors to lap up shares of packaged food companies. Online retailers like Amazon are also seeing strong demand as virus-spooked shoppers avoid brick-and-mortar stores.

Makers of face masks, hand sanitizers and sanitary wipes are witnessing a huge surge in demand as shoppers around the world seek ways to protect themselves against the rapidly spreading virus. 3M Corp, which makes face masks among other things, is one of the biggest beneficiaries.

It's one of the most widespread greetings in the business world. But will the traditional handshake go out of style? Health experts recommend avoiding it to reduce the risk of contracting the coronarvirus. Germany's interior minister took that advice seriously and refused to shake Chancellor Angela Merkel's hand. They both laughed and Merkel threw her hand up in the air before taking a seat.

France's government has advised its citizens to cut back on the traditional "bise" — greeting by kissing others on both cheeks. But French President Emmanuel Macron nevertheless gave the double-kiss greeting to Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte during a summit in Naples this week, symbolically demonstrating that he didn't fear contact with the neighboring country affected by a coronavirus surge.

It's a gesture that was first popularized by baseball and basketball players in the US. About 50% fewer bacteria are transferred by high-fiving than by shaking hands — meaning that it's still not completely risk-free.

Commonly used in sports, the greeting was also popularized by former US President Obama, shown here with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. Beyond the coolness factor, the fist bump transmits significantly fewer germs than shaking hands — about 90% less according to one study.

Hugging is another way to spread germs, but research has also shown that the warm embrace of a loved one may strengthen the immune system — and in some cases, it can boost diplomatic ties. This hug between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2018 triggered various reactions on both sides of the border. They had previously opted for the more formal handshake.

Australia's New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard recommends this gesture: "It's time that Aussies actually gave each other a pat on the back for the time being — no handshaking," he said. While it transmits less bacteria than the previously mentioned forms of greetings, the pat on the back can be perceived as condescending by some people.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip wave here from the balcony of Buckingham Palace. The original gesture derived from a 18th-century tradition of knights saluting each other after removing the guard of their helmets to reveal their identity and show that they were coming in peace. Waving can, however, be seen as offensive in some countries.

In China, where the COVID-19 outbreak began, one greeting recommendation is the traditional gong shou gesture, or the fist and palm salute, as demonstrated above by actress Miya Muqi at the Cannes screening of "Ash Is The Purest White" in 2018.

A slight bow with palms pressed together in a prayer-like position: The Thai wai greeting is widespread in various southeast Asian countries — also known as the Indian namaste or the Burmese mingalar par.

Similarly safe, Japan's traditional sign of salutation and reverence still belongs to everyday life. Learning to bow elegantly is an important part of becoming a respectable adult. Here, employees of a department store in Tokyo practice their greeting ahead of the start of a New Year sale.

A recent viral video from China shows yet another alternative to the handshake: the "footshake," also dubbed the "Wuhan handshake." Rubbing dirty feet is still safer than touching hands...

Probably the easiest way to greet someone without sharing germs and making a faux pas is to look the other person in the eyes, smile and say hello.