LG Electronics and ZTE mobile will be withdrawing from the Mobile World Congress (MWC) Expo 2020. The conference is set to happen in Barcelona Spain from 24th to 27th February.  Their cancellation comes after the Corona Virus outbreak.

The latest numbers on the coronavirus, which began in Wuhan, include 400 people killed and more than 20,000 sick. As well as substantial restrictions on travel to and from mainland China and business operations within the country.

Due to the growing escalation of the virus. The two company’s site will risky to expose their employees to the virus prone areas where people will be attending from across the world including China.

MWC 2020 will feature an even larger Chinese contingent than ever before. Among the attendees was Huawei, Motorola, Lenovo Xiaomi, Vivo and Honor among many other major smartphone brands.

At the moment only two brands have cancelled their attendance.LG will be holding separate events in the near future to announce its 2020 mobile products.

“With the safety of its employees and the general public foremost in mind, LG has decided to withdraw from exhibiting and participating. This decision will prevent exposing hundreds of their employees to international travel, which most health experts have advised,” an LG spokesperson said.

Amid their cancellation, ZTE  will still have a booth presence at the show. A wide variety of new 5G devices will also be demonstrated at the  MWC 2020.

According to a statement from ZTE, the company plans to have non-Chinese staff. as well the company will have all their equipment at the event de disinfected daily.

The GSM Association, which organizes MWC, maintains it’ll be business as usual in Barcelona. The show has a big economic impact of 492 million euros t this year. It also generates 14,100 part-time jobs, according to the GSMA.

The GSMA is an industry trade body that represents more than 1,200 companies across the mobile ecosystem. MWC is the chance for thousands to gather for partnerships, deals, and product launches for the global press.

Prior to the two cancellations,  the GSMA said it had taken extra precautions for this year’s conference, including putting in place a “no-handshake policy”, as well as increased cleaning and disinfection. There will be the provision of more sanitising materials for public use.

 

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