Aronian had already conceded the first game of a second-round match against Australian 126th seed Bobby Cheng yesterday, and today announced his withdrawal, blaming a high fever and tonsillitis.

"Despite my great desire to play, I have to be rational and put mine, and the health of other players first," Aronian said on Facebook.

"I want to personally thank the FIDE President Mr. [Arkady] Dvorkovich for taking all possible actions to help me in any issues I got.

"Please take care of yourself, and hopefully the tournament will continue without any misfortunes.

"I promise to get healthy soon and come back to the magical world of 64 squares!"

Due to his symptoms, Aronian had been kept away from other players.

The tournament was hit by a coronavirus scare yesterday when Indonesia's Susanto Megaranto was informed of a positive coronavirus test during a match against Fabiano Caruana.

The American second seed won via default, but was also sent into isolation as a precaution.

Two other Indonesian players have pulled out of the Women's World Cup, which is running in parallel in the Russian city, as a precaution.

In chess action today, world number one Magnus Carlsen finished off Croatia's Saša Martinović to set up a third-round match against 64th seed and fellow Norwegian Aryan Tari.

Dutch fourth seed Anish Giri had no issues getting past the Russian Boris Savchenko - winning the second game to set up a third-round match against Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who emerged victorious against Indian 61st seed Aravindh Chithambaram.

French seventh seed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is through following a victory over American Elshan Moradiabadi.

Ravi Haria, seeded 169th and the only English player at the World Cup, brought his match back to a tie by winning the second game against French 41st seed Etienne Bacrot.

The winner of that match will face Egyptian 24th seed Bassem Amin, who beat Hovhannes Gabuzyan of Armenia.

Brazilian 123rd seed Krikor Mekhitarian earned a second draw with sixth seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, taking their match to a tiebreak.