After Facebook, coronavirus derails Intel event in US

San Francisco, Feb 17 (IANS) After Facebook, Coronavirus has derailed another significant tech summit in the Silicon Valley, this time from global chip-maker Intel which on Monday decided to postpone its “Intel Labs Day’ conference that was scheduled from March 12-13 here.

The company said in a statement that the briefing sessions would not be organised as scheduled “due to the coronavirus/COVID-19 impact on the ecosystem”.

“We are revisiting launch plans,” said the company.

Facebook last week cancelled ‘Global Marketing Summit’ in San Francisco that was scheduled from March 9-12. Over 5,000 participants were expected to attend the event.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we cancelled our Global Marketing Summit due to evolving public health risks related to coronavirus,” said a company spokesperson.

IBM said it cancelled its participation in the RSA cybersecurity conference here from February 24-28 due to concerns over China virus outbreak.

“The health of IBMers is our primary concern as we continue to monitor upcoming events and travel relative to Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)”, the company tweeted.

San Francisco International Airport is among 11 locations through which all flights from China to the US are being funneled for coronavirus screening.

Last week, United Airlines Flight 901 from San Francisco was placed under lockdown after landing at London’s Heathrow Airport on Friday as the captain told passengers someone on board might have Novel Coronavirus. Other passengers were eventually allowed to disembark but the sick person was kept behind, reports The Daily Mail.

China’s National Health Commission on Monday reported 70,548 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,770 deaths, with 10,844 people discharged from hospital.

In the 24 hours until midnight on Sunday, 2,048 new cases and 105 new deaths had been recorded over the previous day.