There are no medical reasons for canceling the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, the biggest annual exhibition of the mobile industry, in light of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, Catalan Health Minister Alba Verges i Bosch told reporters on Wednesday
MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th February, 2020) There are no medical reasons for canceling the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, the biggest annual exhibition of the mobile industry, in light of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, Catalan Health Minister Alba Verges i Bosch told reporters on Wednesday.
The Mobile World Congress has been gathering key telecommunications companies, manufacturers of mobile phones and developers of content for mobile devices since 2006. This year's exhibition is set to take place from February 24-27. However, over 20 companies participating in the event have already refused to attend the exhibition due to the coronavirus, including Ericsson, Sony, LG, Nokia, and many others. As a preventive measure, the organizer of the event decided to ban people who recently visited the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, from the participation.
"There are no medical reasons for postponing any event that can be held in Catalonia, including the MWC," Bosch said at a press conference after consulting with the Spanish Health Ministry.
According to the Catalan minister, local authorities have not registered any case of the virus in the region so far. At the same time, they are completely ready to diagnose and treat it, she added.
So far, two cases of the coronavirus have been detected in Spain. Both men, a British and a German, tested positive for the virus and isolated for further treatment.
The current death toll from the complications caused by the coronavirus, named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization, exceeds 1,110 with more than 45,000 being people infected worldwide.
