BBC News Hampshire & Isle of Wight

Organisers of the Island Games have postponed the 2021 event and said they were uncertain when the next competition would be held because of the effects of the coronavirus outbreak.

The next games were due to be in Guernsey in July 2021.

But, at its annual general meeting held by video conference over the weekend, the International Island Games Association (IIGA) agreed they should be put off.

Jorgen Pettersson, chair of the IIGA, said the decision "was not made lightly and was based on the responses received from the recent survey undertaken with member islands, coupled with the best medical advice that could be obtained".

He added: "The pandemic is not over, the quarantine regulations will continue to make planning forward very very difficult and even impossible."

Eric Legg, from the association, told the BBC said there was no choice but to call it off for next year because of a "mixture of various things", including training and team selections being affected by Covid lockdowns, adding: "Obliviously coronavirus was at the bottom of it."

Brian Allen, chairman of Guernsey Island Games, said it was "so disappointing for everybody, including those who were looking forward to coming to Guernsey".

The games after that are due to be held in Orkney in 2023, but nothing was certain, the IIGA said.

Island Games 2021

The latest number of cases of Covid-19 has been confirmed as 7,719 in Hampshire and 457 on the Isle of Wight.

The figures are up by 50 in Hampshire and one on the Isle of Wight since Saturday

The breakdown of the figures by local authority area is:

Hampshire - 5,923

Southampton - 1,125

Portsmouth - 671

Isle of Wight - 457

The BBC also provides this tool with a breakdown of the latest national coronavirus figures.

The coronavirus, which causes the respiratory disease known as Covid-19, was first confirmed in the UK at the end of January.

Data as of Sunday 27 September.