BARCELONA, Feb 11 — Companies expected to make appearances at the world’s largest annual tech fair are dropping out in response to the coronavirus threat.

As the Mobile World Congress draws nearer and the coronavirus death toll climbs, more and more tech companies are dropping out of the conference. The latest companies to cancel their appearances include Sony and Amazon.

They join LG, NVIDIA, ZTE, and Ericsson in sitting out the conference over coronavirus concerns. The MWC’s organiser, GSMA, issued a statement yesterday regarding the event in light of the outbreak:

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“The GSMA knows that the coronavirus has created disruption, in particular for exhibitors and attendees from around the world, including the 5-6,000 (5-6 per cent) who have historically attended from China. Our sympathy goes to all those affected. We are grateful for the preventative measures our Chinese exhibitors have put in place, notably ZTE and Huawei.

Yesterday, the GSMA is moving ahead as planned and will host MWC Barcelona 24-27 February 2020. While the GSMA confirm some large exhibitors have decided not to come to the show this year with others still contemplating next steps, we remain more than 2,800 exhibitors strong.”

Further precautions that will be put in place, according to the organisation, include banning people from particularly infected areas from attending as well as increasing sanitation efforts at the event, among other actions.

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As of yesterday, the 2020 Mobile World Congress is still scheduled to take place from February 24 to February 27, though over the next few weeks, that could be subject to change. — AFP-Relaxnews