The company organising Barcelona’s World Mobile Congress, GSMA, will decide on Friday about what to do with this year’s edition, to be held from Febnruary 24 to 27. A few companies have continued pulling out of the Mobile World Congress on Monday and Tuesday due to concerns related to the coronavirus. Intel is one of the latest firms joining the likes of Sony, LG, Amazon and Ericsson in withdrawing from the event along with the first three Chinese ones: Umidigi, Ulefone and Vivo. More than ten other companies related to the mobile industry have already pulled out, including Gigaset (Germany), Nvidia (the US) and NTT Docomo (Japan).

Meanwhile, on Monday the Catalan digital minister Jordi Puigneró insisted that the fair will take place “as usual.” According to him, “there are no reasons” to fear a coronavirus outbreak in Catalonia or to cancel the event, despite growing fears that this could indeed happen. “In Catalonia there are no coronavirus cases. The government will work so that the Mobile World Congress takes place as usual” he added.

On Friday, the head of epidemiology at Hospital Clínic in Barcelona, Antoni Trilla, also ruled out the possibility of a health problem related to coronavirus in Catalonia. “There is nothing more contagious than fear. People can be afraid, but fear needs to be rational and we need to see what the situation is at home, where coronavirus [infections] are not very probable,” the doctor argued.