WARSAW — The Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) esports event kicked off Friday in Poland, while the organizers will be streaming the events instead of letting in spectators to the venue due to risks posed by the novel coronavirus COVID-19.

The IEM is a series of tournaments and one of the largest esports events in the world. The Katowice event starts on Friday and ends on Sunday and had an expected attendance of around 170,000 over two venues.

We spent the last days constantly updating all relevant bodies on the steps we are taking to minimize the potential risks

Adrian Kostrzebski, Press officer for the Electronic Sports League Poland

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Many fans from abroad had already arrived in Katowice, a city in the south of Poland, before the announcement was made on Thursday evening local time.

"It breaks our heart that, today at 19:45 CET we were informed that, due to the dynamic changes in the global health situation, the Masters Championship at IEM Katowice 2020 has been closed to the public by the Polish Government of Silesia province hours before its door opening," the tournament organizers wrote in a statement. "We respect the decision from the local authorities. Your health and well-being stand above everything else."

The visitor ban comes despite steps taken by the organizer to minimize the risk to spectators and competitors, with mandatory temperature checks at the entrance and coordination with the local health services, a spokesperson told Polish TV network TVN24.

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"We spent the last days constantly updating all relevant bodies on the steps we are taking to minimize the potential risks," Adrian Kostrzebski, the press officer for the Electronic Sports League Poland, told the network. "Everyone ensured us that we did much, even more than was expected from us."

The organization of the tournament is working on a refund scheme, and will be streaming the events, that consists of high-level tournaments for the games Counterstrike: Global Offensive and Starcraft II with a total prize pool of US$900,000.