With one of its flagship events just around the corner, the GSMA is seeking to reassure attendees that it is keeping a close watch on developments pertaining to the coronavirus outbreak, and is taking measures to safeguard against the virus as necessary.
The next major event for the GSMA is Mobile World Congress Barcelona, and the mobile alliance insists that the event will take place as planned, running from February 24th to 27th. But it adds that “several measures are already in place” to help guard against the virus.
In a statement, the GSMA said it will carefully adhere to recommendations set forth by the World Health Organisation, the Chinese government, and Spanish health authorities. It will also ensure that additional medical personnel will be onsite for MWC Barcelona, and will “[s]upport exhibitors who may not be able to travel to MWC Barcelona” via its account managers and the customer care team.
The GSMA also said that there have been “no registration impacts” from the coronavirus outbreak so far, though “further updates will be issued as advice develops.”
As of the time of writing, nearly 8,000 cases of coronavirus infection have been confirmed, with 170 people dead. For comparison, the WHO has estimated that influenza kills roughly 650,000 worldwide each year.
MWC Barcelona is the first big GSMA-organized industry event of the year, followed by MWC Shanghai in July and MWC Los Angeles in October. Both of the other events are also currently scheduled to proceed as planned.
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