South Korean boyband BTS to hold press conference without reporters and fans amid coronavirus concerns - The Straits Times

BTS are used to big turnouts of reporters and fans every time they hold a public event.

But now that South Korea has been struck by the Covid-19 outbreak, the management of the Korean mega boy band are saying no to crowds, and are, instead, playing it safe.

Big Hit Entertainment is opting for a press conference to be live-streamed on the group's YouTube channel.

The event - slated for Monday (Feb 24) to promote BTS' new album Map Of The Soul: 7 - will not be attended by reporters or fans.

Rather, questions will be submitted to the members via e-mail.

There will also be a Q&A session for fans.

The crowd-control measure is unlikely to dent the sales prospects of the album which was released on Feb 21. According to Chart Data, it has already become the bestselling global album of the year, with a reported 4.02 million advance orders.

Map Of The Soul: 7, the group's fourth studio album, has topped the iTunes Top Albums charts in 91 countries and regions from Egypt to Russia.

All 20 tracks in the album have also made it to the United States iTunes Top Songs chart.

Other K-pop artists are also playing their part to deal with the health scare at home and abroad, with artists such as Seventeen, Taeyeon and NCT Dream cancelling or postponing concerts or events in Singapore.

Precautionary measures in South Korea include the postponement of SF9's fan cafe and boyband 2PM singer Wooyoung's use of streaming site V Live for a fan chat.