A Sprint and Excel event at Phillip Island scheduled for this weekend has been cancelled as Victoria experiences a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Victoria has seen an increase in cases in recent days leading to the reintroduction of social distancing and isolation restrictions.

A letter from Phillip Island Auto Racing Club (PIARC) President Warren Reid confirmed the event would not go ahead.

“After taking advice from all parties including the Victorian Government regarding ongoing impacts of COVID-19 Corona Virus (sic) to the community and the latest re-introduction of restrictions, it was mutually agreed to postpone the event to a future date in 2020,” the letter read.

“While every possible scenario was discussed to allow this meeting to happen, the potential risk to our officials, competitors and the greater Victorian community with the current rise in positive cases and further proposed restrictions meant the event was not a viable option.”

The event was set to see a full field entered across both the Sprint and Excel categories poised to compete this weekend.

Victoria reported 16 new cases on Sunday, taking the state’s tally of active cases to 125.

In total 1847 instances of COVID-19 have been detected in Victoria with 19 deaths.

“We have made some great progress in slowing the spread of coronavirus, but we are still seeing transmission in households and other settings,” Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton said.

“We’ve had more than 120 new cases in the past seven days and the main cause for this increase has been through cases in families – where people have not followed our advice around physical distancing, hygiene and limiting the number of people you invite into your home.

“As a consequence, the Victorian Government has announced a tightening of the rules and has reduced the number of visitors you can have in your home to five.

“Outside of the home, people can now gather in groups of up to 10 only.

“We have been very successful so far in avoiding the worst consequences of this disease and we cannot let our good work so far go to waste.”