E-commerce company Shopify Inc. is cancelling the in-person portion of its annual partner and developer event in Toronto due to public health concerns around the rapidly-spreading coronavirus.

“Due to the evolving public health concerns around COVID-19, we’ve made a hard but necessary decision to cancel the in-person element of Shopify Unite this year,” the company said in a statement Friday morning.

“We believe this is the best option to make sure we don’t put anyone’s health and safety at risk.”

Shopify Unite is an annual conference that was created by the Toronto-based technology company to bring thousands of partners from across the world to Toronto for discussions around the future of commerce. 

Shopify added they do not see the coronavirus having an additional impact on future product releases and that the company will “remain merchant-focused and adjust product planning as necessary.”

The company has not specified if the in-personal element of the event will be rescheduled, but says it will provide updates on their website in the following weeks.