A growing number of major events around the world are being cancelled, due to the coronavirus outbreak.
According to data website, Worldometres, coronavirus has so far claimed the lives of 2,627 people and 79,731 cases confirmed across 36 countries around the world.
Coronavirus outbreak causes cancellations
Fears over the spread of the virus has seen the cancellation of the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona. The world’s largest annual show for the global mobile industry was supposed to get going today.
Elsewhere, Facebook has cancelled its annual global summit in San Francisco; and the Beijing Motor Show has also been cancelled.
China cancels Peoples’ Congress
China, where the outbreak is thought to have started, has cancelled its annual National People’s Congress.
The NPC is the biggest political event in China. Ministers meet for two weeks to vote on major pieces of legislation for the nation.
The last two days of the Venice carnival have been cancelled and fabled Milan Opera House ‘La Scala’ has also closed.
Experts are beginning to consider that we may now be facing a pandemic outbreak, since Iraq and Iran have also now reported their first cases.
Springtime is traditionally an active time for events with high profile shows like the global Motor Show circuit revving up.
More shows could be cancelled
But as the number of coronavirus cases and deaths continues to rise, more shows are likely to be cancelled in the coming weeks.
However, many events are continuing to go ahead. In France the national union of events organisers, Unimev, said all events in the nation were going ahead as planned.
In the UK, the Association of Event Organisers, AEO, said “We are taking a dynamic approach to the complex and changing situation surrounding the COVID19 – Coronavirus outbreak”.
It points members to the UK Government’s Department of Health, the WHO, Foreign Office and European Centre for Disease Prevention.
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