AKIPRESS.COM - The Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals have been cancelled this year amid "growing indications" that coronavirus cases are going to surge in the autumn.

Both events were meant to have taken place in California in April, and had been rescheduled for October.

But health officials have said they are "not comfortable moving forward" - especially given how Coachella is one of the world's biggest music festivals, bringing half a million fans to an open-air site east of Los Angeles.

Cameron Kaiser, who signed the order cancelling the festivals for 2020, said: "I am concerned as indications grow that COVID-19 could worsen in the fall.

"Given the projected circumstances and potential, I would not be comfortable moving forward."