South Korea’s LG Electronics has announced that they are cancelling its Mobile World Congress (MWC) events this year. The event will kickstart from February 24 in Barcelona, Spain this month.
LG has withdrawn from the upcoming event due to the coronavirus outbreak in China that has killed 490 people. Following LG, ZTE has too confirmed its cancellation of MWC event.
In a statement LG said:
LG Electronics is closely monitoring the situation related to the novel coronavirus outbreak, which was recently declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization as the Virus continues to spread outside China.
With the safety of its employees, partners and customers foremost in mind, LG has decided to withdraw from exhibiting and participating in MWC 2020 later this month in Barcelona, Spain. This decision will prevent needlessly exposing hundreds of LG employees to international travel, which most health experts have advised.
In lieu of its participation in MWC, LG will be holding separate events in the near future to announce its 2020 mobile products.
LG Electronics thanks its supporters and the public for their understanding during these difficult and challenging times.
ZTE has not cited a specific reason nor released a statement for its withdrawal. The reason is of course the health risks related to the coronavirus. Since the outbreak of coronavirus, a number of travel restrictions have been imposed, in particular to and from China.