MWC Barcelona 2020 Is Canceled

Folks, an awful news just came out a few hours ago. It was from GSMA, the organization behind the premiere mobile communication event, Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.

In view of the coronavirus outbreak, this year’s MWC is a no go. You heard that right. A major event has just announced that it has been canceled.

Here’s the gist of the statement:

“With due regard to the safe and healthy environment in Barcelona and the host country today, the GSMA has cancelled MWC Barcelona 2020 because the global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances, make it impossible for the GSMA to hold the event.”

As disappointed as I am, personally, I think it is for the greater good. At this point, what we know about this virus and how it actually propagates are still consider preliminary.

However, there’s no doubt that this virus is highly transmissible and apparently, it could be passed on to another person even at its incubation period which could be as long as 14 days.

In other words, a person could be passing on the virus without the person showing any symptom. If that does not scare you, I don’t know what is.

As of today, the global number of confirmed coronavirus cases has now surged pass 60,000 and there have been over 1,300 deaths since. It is really unfortunate that this outbreak has to happen.

We totally understand the decision. It was never an easy one. The cancellation will no doubt result in millions of dollars in losses. But the wellness and safety of humans cannot be outweigh by any amount of money – that’s the basis of humanity.

Having said that, it boggles my mind that there are some major events, such as the Singapore Airshow, that are still pushing ahead. I guess not every organizations are as responsible as GSMA.

MWC Barcelona was originally scheduled to happen from February 24-27, 2020.

Meanwhile, expect quite a bit of virtual revealing to happen moving forward. I guess that’s how the future will look like, eh?

Image: GSMA.