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NEW DELHI, March 9-- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bangladesh scheduled for next week has been deferred over the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, the foreign ministry said Monday. "We have received formal notification from the Government of Bangladesh that a decision has been taken by them to defer the public events being organized to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the Father of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, on account of the detection of cases of coronavirus in Bangladesh, and the larger global public health situation in this regard," foreign ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. "The impact of this deferment applies also to the large gathering planned for March 17, at which the Prime Minister of India was invited." Modi's was scheduled to travel to Dhaka on March 17 to attend the centenary celebrations of Bangladesh's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. This is Modi's second trip abroad that has been cancelled in wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Last week India's foreign ministry said the India-European Union (EU) summit which was scheduled to be held later this month has been postponed in wake of the COVID-19 epidemic. Modi was supposed to travel to Brussels to attend the India-EU summit. India and the 27-nation EU were scheduled to hold their 17th summit in Brussels on March 13. | 
