With the exception of the Ice Hockey World Championship, World Junior Championship, the Ice Hockey Women's World Championship and the Ice Hockey Under-18 World Championships, every planned event in the 2020-2021 season has been cancelled.

This includes the cancellation of the four lower divisions of the senior men’s World Championships and three lower tiers of the women’s event.

Three under-18 divisions have also been cancelled.

The news takes the total number of cancelled tournaments in the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship programme to 28.

It follows the IIHF Expert Group's recommendations that cited major concerns over the ability of the event hosts to operate a tournament in a safe environment, and without risk of financial loss should it be cancelled or a participant falls ill.

The IIHF Event Department also conducted meetings with event hosts, which supplemented the Expert Group report.

Motivation to hold the events reportedly remained high, but organisers highlighted local Government rules or travel restrictions for participating teams which make going ahead impossible.

"During the last Council meeting we agreed that to require each tournament host to operate a competition 'bubble' was not a practical request for most organisers outside of the top divisions," said René Fasel, IIHF President.

"The capability of these organisers to hold a tournament has been reduced significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the IIHF does not have the resources necessary to properly supervise the safe operation of these tournaments.

"What we can do is to shield these tournament organisers and the participating teams from potentially devastating financial losses, by taking the unpleasant but necessary step to initiate these cancellations now before travel plans and arena preparations begin.

"As much as we regret to have to take this decision, this is about survival and the protection of our members."

The IIHF Council and Expert Group are due to review the status of the 2021 World Junior Championship, Women's World Championship and Men's Under 18 World Championship in January.

Talks also remain ongoing about the Men's World Championship in Belarus and Latvia, amid the political unrest in Minsk.

The governing body said the cancellations have impacted the women's qualification programme for Beijing 2022.

A pre-qualification tournament is now planned to take place in August, with the second round scheduled to take place in October.

The final Olympic qualification tournament is expected to move to November, with the event initially scheduled for August.

The move is pending confirmation from the International Olympic Committee.

IIHF said the final men's Olympic qualifier remains on course to be played between August 26 to 29 next year.