Meghan Markle and Harry banned from hosting huge bash for Archie's birthday

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have shelved plans to host a major birthday party for their son in Los Angeles due to the coronavirus.

Their first child Archie turns one on May 6.

Business associates of the couple claim they had hoped to mix their son's first birthday with a welcome to LA party.

But the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are banned from hosting a huge bash with their star friends and close aides.

That decision was made for them by Mayor Eric Garcetti and Los Angeles County officials, who are enforcing stay-at-home orders until May 15.

The Sussexes rushed into a move in California just before the US closed the border with Canada to non-residents last month.

And now their first hopes of enjoying their first family event - and potentially assembling a meet and greet for friends and family - has been scuppered.

The couple, who stepped back last month from full-scale Royal duties, had kept her mum Doria Ragland away from their LA mansion over concerns of virus spreads.

Now associates of the couple insist that putting themselves or baby Archie at risk for a birthday gathering is "absolutely not going to happen" - now that authorities have laid down the law.

A one-time business associate of Markle admitted: "Los Angelenos have been told that social distancing remains a priority and parties or gatherings of any sort are out of the question.

"There is no way that Harry and Meghan could or would even consider be having this birthday as the time to come together with their friends. As special as Archie turning number one is, now is the time to take safety more seriously than ever.

"Their closed knit friend groups will have plenty of other opportunities moving forward to come together. There are other events lined up throughout the rest of the year.

"It is a shame because Archie's birthday, without the lockdown, offered the greatest and perfect way of having a welcome to LA bash for them and their friends.

"And just a few days ago the Mayor still saw April 19 as a date to lift sanctions...however, that is not the case for safety reasons."

The source added: "While lockdown is impacting many business and charity's plans. the Sussexes are in full planning mode.

"They still hope to have Archewell up and running fully by the time the lockdown is lifted.

"Their desire to make their foundation a success is greater than ever. And what is happening to the world makes them more determined than ever to do good in the world."

Currently, LA county is approaching 10,000 people testing positive for the novel coronavirus.

The city is under lockdown with essential trips to supermarkets, chemists and exercise outings allowed.

However, Garcetti issued a diktat offering cash to citizens to expose businesses that are violating the “safer at home” order.

“If any non-essential businesses continue to operate in violation of the stay at home order, we’re going to act to enforce the safer at home order and ensure their compliance,” he said.

“You know the old expression about snitches, well, in this case, snitches get rewards,” Garcetti said. “We want to thank you for turning folks in and making sure we are all safe.”

The mayor deputized a number of city workers and ordered them to patrol the city and enforce the stay at home orders.

“Your decision to stay home may mean that there’s one less person who needs a ventilator we do not have,” Garcetti said. “And bringing case and death numbers down won’t just happen because of physical distancing and isolation, but also because of testing.”

California has been one of the states hit the hardest by COVID-19, along with New York and Washington state, but recent numbers suggest social-distancing and other measures have helped slow the spread and flatten the curve.

Experts warn, however, that those measures must stay in place longer even as the number of people being admitted to the hospital for the virus has somewhat slowed.

"If you were to reduce physical distancing to the pre-health officer order levels, virtually all individuals in Los Angeles County, 95.6 per cent per the model, would be infected by the pandemic by Aug. 1, 2020," said Dr Christina Ghaly, the county's director of health services.

"That number is starkly reduced, down to about 30 per cent, if we maintain the current levels of physical distancing."

The Sussexes officially left Royal duties last month. They have set up home in Los Angeles after initially insisting they would settle in Canada.

Markle is hoping to settle with her husband in the Malibu, Palisades and PCH corridor.