Major events - both sporting and otherwise - continue to be postponed or cancelled around the world. In South Africa, this rake of cancellations and postponements is rife, with mass closures of businesses and cancellations of major events, such as the Bushfire Festival - a major music event, that sees people travelling from around the world to attend.

Reported just last week, Sun International, who are a large hotel and casino chain operating across the country, is seeing unprecendented numbers of businesses cancelling engagements at their venues. A statement released by a Sun International representative has outlined the devastating impact on their hotel bookings and conference engagements, but interestingly, they claim that there hasn't been a substantial drop in foot traffic to their casinos.

There are concerns, however - attending as a foot passenger can only last so long, and the C-Suite of the Sun International group will be looking at contingency plans for when the inevitable comes - people staying at home and opting to play the same casino games on their mobile instead.

Whilst the experience may not be entirely the same, the evergrowing restrictions, including the prevention of the sale of alcohol in the land-based premises, and the continued calls for people to stay at home, it's forecasted that the online casino market will likely replace the offline market, for the short-term at least.

On the sporting side, the Olympic games that were also set to take place later this year in Japan, have now been the next casualty. The games will now take place in 2021, and no later than the summer period - a statement recently announced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

This is just the third time in history that this has happened, with the three previous cancellations coming in the period of the First & Second World Wars - giving a further indication as to just how serious the situation is.

The Olympic games were being pushed to go ahead until today, but the authorities had come under much scrutiny from other nations, who believed it simply had to be postponed.

Both Canada and Australia have released Government statements, claiming that their athletes would not be taking part in the games, if the plan for it to continue in 2020 was one that was followed-through - putting further pressure on the committee, with the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, also calling for the games to be postponed until a later date.

The Tokyo Paralympic games have also now followed suit and have been rescheduled to take place next year in 2021.

The Olympics have never been delayed, so this is a unique event in their 124 year modern history. As mentioned previously, cancellations are not unprecedented, but are few and far between - the games have previously been cancelled on three occasions - 1916, followed by 1940 and 1944, which was during the two World Wars.

The major Cold War boycotts saw the summer games in Moscow and Los Angeles cancelled in 1980 and 1984 - a similar scenario to that which occurred back in 1916.

The ICO have stated that: "The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present.

"Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan. It was also agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020."

Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures, and this is one of the greatest challenges that the world has ever faced. One thing's for sure - sport in South Africa, and indeed the world as a whole, will stand together like no other industry, and like never before.