The CN Tower will officially be closing to the public for at least a month starting tomorrow because of the 2019 novel coronavirus.

The move, though unprecedented, is understandable given the thousands of conventions, parades, concert tours, sports games and other large-scale events that are being cancelled worldwide for fear of facilitating the spread of the communicable disease.

Holy shit

— Arjun (@_marlanderthews) March 13, 2020

Montreal recently announced that arenas, theatres and other major attractions are due to shut down after Quebec's premier prohibited indoor gatherings of more than 250 people and told the province that it "needs to get into an emergency mode."

Other parts of Canada have taken similar measures, encouraging residents to socially distance themselves and work from home if at all possible to help curb outbreaks. Ontario just cancelled classes for two million public school students this week.

Justin Trudeau told CBC's The Current this morning that he is "looking at" recommending that Canadians do not embark on any international travel in the midst of the pandemic. Meanwhile, his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau has tested positive for the illness.

#NEW: Toronto’s iconic CN Tower will be closing it’s doors starting end of day today amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

The tourist attraction will be closed to the public till at least April 14, 2020. pic.twitter.com/p7ISe2Ofsk

— Kris Pangilinan (@KrisReports) March 13, 2020

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally has risen to more than 132,000 in at least 123 countries at the time of publication — approximately half of those already recovered — while there have been around 5,000 deaths.

As of March 12, the government of Canada had confirmed 138 cases across Ontario, B.C., Alberta and Quebec, along with one presumptive positive case in New Brunswick and one affected repatriated Canadian  in Trenton, Ontario.