The South by Southwest festival in Texas has been cancelled due to concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus, organizers and the host city of Austin said Friday. "The City of Austin has cancelled the March dates for SXSW and SXSW EDU," the festival said in a statement. "SXSW will faithfully follow the City's directions." Austin mayor Steve Adler told a news conference he had declared a local disaster in response to the coronavirus, and had "issued an order that effectively cancels South by Southwest for this year." The music, tech and film festival was slated to take place March 13-22, although Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Twitter had reportedly all pulled out. Texas has so far recorded fewer than 20 cases of novel coronavirus. ec/ft