The coronavirus has attracted worldwide attention since the World Health Organization announced a new strain of the virus known as 2019-nCoV in January this year as a public health emergency of international concern.
Due to the impact of the coronavirus, the global technology industry has been hit hard, and the outbreak of pneumonia has also brought considerable pressure to Mobile World Congress.
Mobile World Congress 2020 kicks off in Barcelona on February 24. Organisers GSMA said the conference would ban visitors from China’s Hubei province and that people from China would have to provide evidence that they had been abroad for at least two weeks before attending the conference and that they had not been in contact with infected people. Check the participant’s temperature.
Many tech companies are also closely monitoring the situation and minimizing non-essential travel. So far, several companies have announced their withdrawal from the Mobile World Congress.
ZTE
ZTE canceled a press conference at Mobile World Congress, but said other scheduled events would go ahead as planned. ZTE said it was taking other precautions due to the coronavirus outbreak, including quarantining all employees from mainland China for two weeks before traveling to Barcelona and ensuring that all executives attending high-level meetings were quarantined in Europe for two weeks. .
LG
South Korean electronics company LG has raised concerns for the safety of its employees and the public due to the coronavirus, and will “withdraw from Mobile World Congress 2020”. The company said it wanted to prevent “unnecessarily putting hundreds of LG employees at risk on international travel.”
LG said it will hold other events to promote its products in the near future.
Amazon
In addition to canceling its participation in MWC, online retail giant Amazon will restrict business travel to China. The company also advised employees who have returned or will be returning from the affected Chinese provinces to work from home for 14 days. If they experience any symptoms, they are asked to seek medical advice before returning to the office.
In a statement, a spokesperson said: “We take and focus on the well-being and safety of our employees. Out of an abundance of caution, we are restricting business travel to and from China until further notice and encourage our Employees comply with the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
Ericsson
Swedish internet giant Ericsson announced its withdrawal from MWC 2020 on February 7.
In a statement, Ericsson CEO Paul Ekholm said: “The health and safety of our employees, customers and other stakeholders is our top priority. We are looking forward to presenting our latest updates at MWC in Barcelona. Innovative. But we firmly believe that withdrawing from our event this year is the most responsible business decision.”
In addition, Ericsson said it will launch its new products and services at local “Ericsson Unboxing” events.
Nvidia
US-based chipmaker Nvidia announced on February 7 that it would no longer be participating in this month’s Mobile World Congress.
“Given the public health risks of the coronavirus, ensuring the safety of our colleagues, partners and customers is our top priority,” the company said in a blog post.
“We are always looking forward to sharing our work on AI, 5G and vRAN with the industry,” the company said in the post. “It’s a shame we didn’t attend, but we believe it was the right decision.”
MWC is the most important exhibition in the mobile communication industry. Every year, domestic and foreign mobile phone manufacturers will release heavyweight new products here. Such as Samsung’s S series, Xiaomi’s flagship series. Huawei’s first foldable phone, the Mate X, also debuted at last year’s MWC.
MWC, the annual mobile phone industry event, is likely to get a little desolate this year. The MWC, which is held regularly at the end of February every year, just happened to catch up with the coronavirus epidemic. Many technology giants announced that they would not participate in the exhibition, which is a big loss for technology companies.
In addition to the impact of the Mobile World Congress, which will be held this month, the production activities of many technology companies have been affected to some extent.
Apple
The iPhone maker temporarily closed all of its stores in one of its largest and most important markets, mainland China. Apple will also close its corporate offices and contact centers in China through February 9. The company said its online store in China remains open and will “closely monitor the situation” to reopen stores as soon as possible.
On a Jan. 28 earnings call, CEO Tim Cook said that many of Apple’s retail partners also closed their locations.
Apple has suppliers in the Wuhan area, but they also have alternative sources for the components they provide. Cook said the company “is developing mitigation plans to cover any anticipated production losses.”
All six of Apple’s stores in Hong Kong remain open and Apple is still reopening corporate offices next week “in consultation with public health experts and government authorities,” the tech giant was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
Lenovo
Chinese laptop maker Lenovo said it will avoid large in-person meetings in the near term and allow more people to work from home until more is known about the outbreak.
Facebook is suspending non-essential travel to China. Facebook reportedly expects production of the Oculus VR headset to be delayed.
Search giant Google said on Jan. 29 that it would temporarily close all of its offices in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan due to health threats. The tech giant has also restricted business travel to mainland China and Hong Kong.
Google employees in China and those with immediate family members returning from China have been told to work from home for at least 14 days.
Microsoft
Software giant Microsoft has advised Chinese employees to work from home and cancel all non-essential business travel until February 9. It also advised employees to avoid non-essential travel to China based on CDC recommendations.
Microsoft said it will donate 1 million yuan (about $144,000) to the Hubei Red Cross Foundation to help with disaster relief efforts in Wuhan and surrounding areas. The company estimates the risk to employees is low and no employees are currently affected.
Microsoft maintains a global health response team that mobilizes to protect employees based on assessments of recommendations from global health authorities such as the WHO and CDC.
Tesla
Electric car maker Tesla is closing its new Shanghai factory for up to half a week after the Chinese government instructed private companies to temporarily halt operations. Chief Financial Officer Zack Kirkhorn told investors that the company was forced to shut down during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. The closures could “slightly” impact first-quarter profits, he said.
Soon after Tesla began ramping up production at the plant, it closed the plant. While utilities and the healthcare industry remain open, all private facilities will remain closed until February 9.
Airbnb
Airbnb’s home rental service said it will offer free cancellations to guests and homeowners affected by the coronavirus, a policy that applies to all hosts in Hubei province who book between Jan. 21 and Feb. 8 or guests, and all guests who have already stayed in Hubei.
Uber
Ride-hailing giant Uber has temporarily suspended about 240 user accounts in Mexico to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. In a statement on Twitter, it said Uber had suspended accounts in Mexico because some of those users had come into contact with two drivers who were suspected of being sick.
The affected accounts included two drivers who transported individuals, and about 240 passengers who came into contact with those drivers, and the company took immediate action after receiving information from Mexico City’s health department about passengers who may be carriers of the virus. .
Foxconn
Foxconn has reportedly told its employees not to return to its offices in Shenzhen, China, after the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, which ends on February 10. Although Foxconn said last month that the coronavirus would not stop it from meeting production targets.
On February 7, Bloomberg quoted an internal Foxconn memo saying that the iPhone maker is “working hard to maintain the health and safety of all people and to comply with the government’s virus prevention measures.”
“We urge you not to return to Shenzhen,” Foxconn reportedly said in a text message to employees.
write at the end
Today is February 10, 2020, and many companies have begun to return to work one after another, and many people have begun to work from home.
According to Xinhuanet’s report yesterday: “The most cattle street” is ready to start! Yuehai Street, located in Nanshan District, Shenzhen, covers an area of only 23 square kilometers, but has about 34,000 enterprises, including 89 listed companies, which is comparable to the number of a province. There is a relationship. In the Sino-US trade friction last year, he accidentally became an “Internet celebrity” and was called “the most cattle street” by netizens.
As the resumption date is approaching, many enterprises in Yuehai Sub-district have applied for resumption of production and resumption of work. According to regulations, enterprises that have put in place prevention and control facilities and have passed the on-site inspection of relevant departments can resume work.
Our city is sick, and now the resumption of production and daily operations is a signal that our city is gradually returning to health.
Spring begins, construction starts, and we face the sea. We look forward to spring flowers blooming!
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