First Nipah, then floods and now the coronavirus has forced a couple to postpone their wedding for a third time.

Childhood friends Premchandran, 26, and Sandra Santosh, 23, were scheduled to get married on Sunday but will have to wait because of restrictions imposed in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The couple, hailing from Eranhipalan, were originally to get married on May 20, 2018.

However, following the outbreak of the Nipah virus, which affected Kozhikode and Malappuram districts and claimed 17 lives, the wedding was postponed as there was a ban on social gatherings.

The family had planned to hold the wedding soon after the Nipah outbreak subsided after around a month. But a close relative of the bridegroom died and the new date could not be fixed before a year.

The wedding was rescheduled for the Onam holidays of 2019.

But because of the floods in August last year, the families decided to hold it on March 20 this year.

Now, with the state government imposing a ban on large gatherings because of the coronavirus pandemic, the wedding has been deferred for a third time now.

The couple hope to tie the knot in September this year, relatives said.

Kerala has reported 40 positive cases, including three people who have been cured, and over 40,000 people are under surveillance. PTI