Credit: http://theconversation.com/reading-zuckerbergs-face-what-3-key-expressions-from-his-testimony-reveal-94783
Facebook has cancelled its global marketing conference due to the outbreak of the coronavirus in China and in some other parts of the world. The summit was scheduled to hold next month in San Francisco.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we canceled our global marketing summit due to evolving public health risks related to coronavirus,” a company spokesman said per Reuters. 4,000 participants were scheduled to converge at the Moscone Center on March 9 to March 12.
The Mobile World Congress suffered similar fate earlier in the week after several major tech giant including Google, LG and the likes announced their withdrawal from the event.
Facebook confirmed that it would not be taking part in this year’s Mobile World Congress holding in the Spanish city of Barcelona. Citing the threat posed by the outbreak of the coronavirus, the company confirmed per CNET that it would not be sending employees to the annual event.
Out of an abundance of caution, Facebook employees won’t be attending this year’s Mobile World Congress due to the evolving public health risks related to coronavirus,” a company spokesman said in a statement per CNET. “We will continue to collaborate with the GSMA and our partners and thank them for their efforts.”
This came up despite several measures and assurances given by the organizers. The organizers had issued several statements and put in place different measures to protect and make sure that participants are safe. Apparently Facebook and other companies that have so far announced their withdrawal from the event are just being precautionary in their approach.
Earlier on, Amazon announced that it will not be a part of this year’s World Mobile Conference, citing the outbreak of the coronavirus as reason. The virus, which originated in the China town of Wuhan, has claimed already claimed more lives than the deadly SARS virus. The Mobile World Conference was scheduled to hold in Barcelona from the 24th to 27th of February.
Among measures taken by the organizers before the event was eventually cancelled include:
- All travelers from the Hubei province will not be permitted access to the event.
- All travelers who have been in China will need to demonstrate proof they have been outside of China 14 days prior to the event (passport stamp, health certificate).
- Temperature screening will be implemented.
- Attendees will need to self-certify they have not been in contact with anyone infected.
As of this day, the total number of people who have died from the disease is put at 1,669 worldwide while 68,500 people have been infested with the virus. .
