Trump says Florida component of GOP convention cancelled

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he is canceling the Jacksonville, Florida component of the upcoming Republican National Convention (RNC) over the coronavirus outbreak.

"The timing for this event is not right. It's just not right with what has happened recently, the flare-up in Florida," he said during a press briefing at the White House. "To have a big convention, it's not the right time."

Trump previously planned to accept the Republican Party's presidential nomination for a second term in Jacksonville after North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, had refused to allow the RNC, scheduled for Aug. 24 to Aug. 27 in Charlotte, to take place without restrictions on crowd size and other measures against the coronavirus.

There have been nearly 390,000 coronavirus infections and more than 5,500 deaths in Florida, which is experiencing a surge in new cases, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University.