20 minutes – The high mass of the mobile may be canceled

More and more large groups, worried about the progress of the coronavirus, have declared forfeit for the world mass of mobile telephony at the end of February in Barcelona. After the South Korean LG and the South Ericsson last week, the Americans Amazon, Intel and Nvidia, the Japanese Sony and NTT DoCoMo, as well as the Chinese Vivo, 6th world manufacturer of smartphones, among other things canceled between Monday and Tuesday their participation in the Mobile World Congress (MWC).

MWC 2019 highlights

Drastic measures taken by the GSMA

Travelers from the Chinese province of Hubei, where the city of Wuhan, the cradle of the coronavirus, is located will be denied access to the MWC lounge, while those traveling to other regions of China will be required to prove that they have outside of China 14 days before the event, the organizers warned, referring to the incubation period of the virus. Temperature tests will be organized within the show and exhibitors will receive advice on disinfecting their stands.

This show, where phone manufacturers – except Apple – traditionally showcase their products, is scheduled for February 24-27. It welcomes each year nearly 110,000 visitors, including 5,000 Chinese, according to the world association of telecom operators (GSMA), which organizes it. After trying to reassure exhibitors by announcing drastic security measures (see box), it comes this Tuesday to schedule a meeting which is to take place on Friday 14 February next. The organizers will decide if the event is maintained or canceled and returned next year, explains La Vanguardia.

Effects in the event of cancellation

This decision could have consequences on the economic benefits for Barcelona. The town hall of the city, where many tourists wearing protective masks were wandering in recent days, has ruled out canceling the event, one of the most important of the year in Catalonia. For its part, the association of Barcelona hoteliers confirmed in a press release that reservations cancellations were occurring in hotels in the city, while ensuring that it was too early to measure the impact.

The government called for calm on Monday through the voice of its Minister of Foreign Affairs Arancha Gonzalez, according to which the security measures to guarantee the integrity of the participants were taken. Two cases of coronavirus have so far been confirmed in Spain, one in the Canary Islands and the other in the island of Mallorca.

(Man / afp)

– .