The League of Legends Pro League (LPL), the top League of Legends professional league in China, has announced that they will begin broadcasting online scrimmages between its teams amid its ongoing hiatus due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the country.

With the safety of its players, teams, staff, and fans remaining a primary concern, the LPL revealed in its official Weibo and Twitter accounts that the online scrims league will begin on February 26 and will feature Top Esports, JD Gaming, Suning, Victory Five, and eStar.

The scrims will follow the LPL’s best-of-three match format, with two daily matches taking place over the course of four days.



The LPL first announced that it was going on hiatus back in January, over a week before it was scheduled to return from a two-week break for the Lunar New Year, due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus epidemic in China and its surrounding countries.

As many as 27 countries have been affected by the coronavirus outbreak, with over 75,000 cases and 2,000 deaths confirmed thus far, as reported by Channel News Asia.

Esports tournaments and leagues across the world have also been affected by the ongoing epidemic, with the Overwatch League notably cancelling the Homestands previously set to be held in China and moving them to South Korea.

The coronavirus outbreak has even prompted the 2019 LoL world champions FunPlus Phoenix to donate ¥2 million (US$290,000) to help combat the epidemic.

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