The GSMA has announced additional measures to combat the risk of coronavirus at its flagship event MWC. The telecom industry's biggest trade show will go ahead later this month in Barcelona, despite large exhibitors such as Ericsson and LG withdrawing, the GSMA said.
Around 5-6 percent of visitors to MWC, or 5,000 to 6,000 people, are usually from China. The GSMA has decided to require any Chinese visitors to show they have been outside the country for 14 days prior to coming to Barcelona, with proof through a passport stamp or health certificate. Anyone coming from Hubei province in China will not be allowed entry to the event.
In addition, temperature screening will be implemented on-site, and attendees will need to self-certify they have not been in contact with anyone infected.
The new measures follows an initial announcement of increased cleaning and hygiene measures, an awareness campaign and health help line, and discouraging handshakes at MWC. The GSMA said it's also working closely with the local public health authorities. The Catalonia health minister said the region was not a public health risk zone and the health system was prepared to detect and treat coronavirus.
The announcement comes as more participants said they would not attend the event. These include the test equipment company Viavi Solutions, Amazon.com, Sony, Japanese operator NTT Docomo and Nvidia. Sony said it would still present new Xperia devices on 24 February in a live streamed event on its YouTube channel. Amdocs also announced it would not attend, but similar to Ericsson, would hold events closer to customers to present its products.
TCL Communication Technology also canceled its global press event at MWC, but said it would still have a stand to present new devices.
Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi and Oppo said they would attend as planned, to showcase their latest hardware. All Chinese employees will have been quarantined for at least 14 calendar days before their arrival in Barcelona, according to the companies.
