Europe's top-five football leagues; Golf's jewel-in-the-crown tournament, the Masters; the world's oldest annual marathon, the Boston Marathon: All have joined the growing list of elite sporting events to fall victim to the COVID-19 pandemic on Friday.

England's hugely-popular Premier League, with a worldwide audience of billions, announced it was suspending matches until April 4 after Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi were confirmed to have the disease.

The announcement came shortly after the French Football League said that all Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 games would be on hold until further notice. The German Bundesliga then followed suit, confirming that the league would be halted for the first time since World War II.

The decision by authorities in England, France and Germany to postpone top-flight football means that all Europe's major leagues have ground to a halt. Spain's La Liga and Italy's Serie A suspended matches days ago.

European football's governing body UEFA took the step of postponing matches after two of next week's four scheduled Champions League last 16, second legs – between Manchester City and Real Madrid, and between Juventus and Lyon – had already been called off.

"In the light of developments due to the spread of COVID-19 in Europe and related decisions made by different governments, all UEFA club competitions matches scheduled next week are postponed," UEFA said in a statement.

A possible extension of the European football season into June would require postponing Euro 2020, which is due to start June 12. European football's governing body will hold a crisis meeting next Tuesday to determine the fate of the tournament.

Meanwhile the Masters, which brings together the world's best golfers in April for the year's first major, has also been postponed due to "the ever-increasing risks associated with the widespread COVID-19," according to a statement by Augusta National Golf Club.

People from all over the world attend the Masters at Augusta National, which this year was scheduled for April 9-12, and the club said it hopes the postponement will allow it to host the event safely at a later date.

The Masters has been played continuously since its inception in 1934 – except during World War Two when it was cancelled from 1943-45. If it is held this year, it would mark the first time it has been played outside March or April.

Augusta National, the only permanent home for one of golf's four majors, typically closes in late May to protect the course from the Georgia summer heat and does not reopen until October.

Tiger Woods is the defending Masters champion after snapping an 11-year wait for his 15th major title when he came from behind in fairytale fashion to win by one shot last April.

Also on Friday, the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) announced the 124th Boston Marathon, scheduled for April 20, has been postponed to September 14 due to the ongoing outbreak.

The historic race, first contested in 1897, typically takes place on the Patriots Day holiday celebrated in Boston and the entire state of Massachusetts.

After Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh decided the race could not proceed as scheduled in April and the BAA said in a statement it "understands the city's decision."

The delay means it will be an extra five months before Kenya's Lawrence Cherono will have a chance to defend his 2019 men's crown and Worknesh Degefa of Ethiopia can bid for a repeat in the women's race.

Later in the day, the 40th edition of the London Marathon was also postponed from April 26 to October 4, while earlier this month the Paris Marathon was moved to October 18.

"The world is in an unprecedented situation grappling with a global pandemic of COVID-19 and public health is everyone's priority," London Event Director Hugh Brasher said in a statement.

"We know how disappointing this news will be for so many – the runners who have trained for many months, the thousands of charities for which they are raising funds and the millions who watch the race every year."

Elsewhere, the Indian Premier League (IPL), the world's most lucrative cricket competition, on Friday postponed the start of this year's tournament amid mounting anxiety in India over COVID-19.

Postponing the cricket tournament, which draws the world's top players from Australia, England and South Africa, and generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues each year, dominated Indian headlines.

But it came as a virtual halt on incoming tourists and business visitors came into effect from Friday. Most of the foreign cricketers would not have been able to play in the IPL because of the visa restrictions.

The start of the IPL has been put back from March 29 until April 15 "as a precautionary measure" over the coronavirus, the Indian cricket board said. Media reports said that even if the tournament does start after April 15 it was likely to be without fans in the stadium.

France's Top 14, the richest rugby union league in the world, was also suspended. Cycling's Giro d'Italia, the first Grand Tour of the season which was due to start in Budapest on May 9, has been postponed.

After two days of shutdowns and cancellations the sporting cupboard for the next two months looks bare.

However, despite the spiraling impact of coronavirus, sport's biggest showpiece, the Olympics, will still go ahead as planned, according to the Tokyo organizers.

Responding to comments by U.S. president Donald Trump that they should be delayed for a year, Japan Olympic minister Seiko Hashimoto told reporters: "The IOC and 2020 organizers are not at all considering cancelling or postponing the Games."

Hours later the torch relay through Greece was canceled after fears that unexpectedly large crowds on the route could spread the virus.

The flame for the 2020 Games was lit in ancient Olympia on Thursday amid an unprecedented health lockdown as Greece registered its first death from COVID-19.

(With input from agencies)