Disneyland in California closing due to coronavirus pandemic

This is one of the latest in a series of closures across the US

Visitors at Disneyland on 25 February 2020 in Anaheim, California. (David McNew/Getty Images)

Disneyland in California will close on Saturday due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus.

The resort as well as Disney California Adventure, which are next door to each other in the Los Angeles suburb of Anaheim, will remain closed through the end of the month, Disneyland Resort said in a statement on Thursday.

Hotels will remain open until Monday so guests can make travel arrangements, according to the resort.

No cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, have been reported at the parks, the statement said.

The closing is occurring after the company reviewed guidelines by California Governor Gavin Newsom, which limit gatherings of more than 250 people.

Mr Newsom had said earlier on Thursday that the guidance did not yet apply to amusement parks.

The closure is one of the latest developments in a series of measures taken by the entertainment industry to limit the spread of the virus.

The entertainment industry prepared on Thursday for an unprecedented shutdown, cancelling upcoming movies, suspending all Broadway performances and scuttling concert tours until it’s safe to welcome crowds back.

To accommodate calls for social distancing, Hollywood moved to pause the normal hum of TV productions and the bustle of red-carpet movie premieres. After New York Governor Andrew Cuomo banned gatherings of more than 500 people, Broadway theatres announced that they would close immediately and remain dark through 12 April.

The closures amount to a nearly complete halting of the industry and the largest-scale shutdown of many of the country’s major arteries of culture.

The Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center, the New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington all cancelled events through 31 March. Live Nation Entertainment and AEG Presents, the world’s largest live-entertainment companies, suspended all current tours through March, including those of Billie Eilish, the Strokes and Post Malone.

Additional reporting by agencies