OSLO: Forget lavish banquets and glittering ceremonies attended by royals wearing tiaras: The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize will be presented to the World Food Programme (WFP) in more austere fashion online on Thursday because of COVID-19.

"This year has been difficult for us, as it has been for many others as well," the director of the Nobel Institute, Olav Njolstad, told AFP on the eve of the ceremony.