BEIJING (REUTERS) - China has cancelled the 2020 Boao Forum for Asia, which Beijing is trying to promote as the region's answer to Davos, due to the coronavirus epidemic, the official China News agency reported on Thursday (April 30).

The annual conference, initially scheduled for March 24-27, was postponed in early March due to the Covid-19 outbreak, which first emerged late last year in China.

The virus has so far killed more than 4,600 and infected nearly 83,000 in mainland China.