The Nobel Foundation, which manages the Nobel Prizes, said Tuesday that the traditional December banquet would be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though the award ceremonies and announcements would still be held in "new forms". "The Nobel week will not be as it usually is due to the current pandemic. This is a very special year when everyone needs to make sacrifices and adapt to completely new circumstances but we will in different ways highlight the laureates, their discoveries and works," Lars Heikensten, director of the Nobel Foundation, said in a statement. jll-map/jj