Major participants have pulled out of MWC 2020 over the weekend over the Coronavirus fear, while restrictions on visitors from China have been tightened.
NTT and Intel are latest tech. giants to join Barcelona congress exodus. Amazon (AMZN), Ericsson (ERIC) and Sony (SNE) have already withdrawn from this year’s Mobile World Congress because of the risk that attendees could catch the coronavirus that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The latest cancellations come after telecom equipment giant Ericsson, and LG Electronics withdrew last week from the show. Nokia still plans to go as of last week, but continues to monitor the situation, which it called “fluid.”
The summit will go ahead as planned, event organizer and mobile operator lobbying group GSMA said in a statement, but it will be restricting access for visitors from China. Despite the withdrawal of “some large exhibitors … we remain more than 2,800 exhibitors strong,” it said.
The association said it would carry out temperature screening and increased cleaning of “high-volume touchpoints,” such as catering areas, bathrooms, speaker microphones, handrails and public touch screens. It said it would double medical support at the venue and won’t admit anyone who has been in China during the two weeks prior to the event.
Measures being implemented will include: Advice to exhibitors on implementing effective cleaning and disinfection of stands, offices along with guidance on personal hygiene measures and common preventive behaviour and advice communication to Barcelona hotels, public and private transport, restaurants and catering outlets, retail, etc.
The annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade show is held in Barcelona for three days every February, and it typically attracts over 100,000 people from over 200 countries.Mobile World Congress 2020 is taking place in Barcelona, Spain, from February 24-27 this year.MWC is organised by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), which represents mobile operators around the world.
