World ParaVolley had planned to hold the qualifying event in Duisburg, Germany from February 15 to 19 in 2021, but this has been put back because of the coronavirus situation in Germany.

World Para Volley said: "The appointed technical delegate and chairman of the Technical Commission is empowered to negotiate new dates in the May/June 2021 period in cooperation with the National Paralympic Committee of Germany."

Hosts Germany are one of seven teams that it is hoped will compete for the final Paralympic berth - with the United States, Canada, Ukraine, Croatia, Latvia and Kazakhstan all eligible to enter.

Paralympic hosts Japan, world champions Iran, China, Russia, Brazil, Egypt and Bosnia and Herzegovina have already qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, now scheduled to take place from August 24 to September 5 2021.

The event was originally due to be held in Edmond in Oklahoma in March this year, but this was put back because of the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

There have been more than 1.2 million cases of coronavirus reported in Germany, including more than 21,800 deaths.

It is reported that in the past 24 hours there have been more than 1,000 new cases of the virus in the country.