Google Cancels A Major Conference Over Corona virus Concerns

Google recently canceled a major internal conference over increasing concerns about the coronavirus spread, in the latest wave of conferences and events being canceled around the world.

The conference was about internet giant sales and marketing and was to be held in Las Vegas in March, as told by Google spokesman. “In light of the evolving coronavirus situation, we decided to cancel an internal event that would have brought thousands of employees together from across two continents,” the spokesman said.

Organizations are canceling large gathering events out of fear of fostering the spread of this respiratory virus called Covid-19. The virus has killed more than 28,00 people and has spread to nearly about 55 countries and territories till now. More than 85,000 people are affected by the virus according to the current statistics. South Korea has the largest number of cases after china; around 3,150 people are affected.

Switzerland is one of the countries which have banned any gathering which involves more than 1000 people in one place. A grand trade fair that was to be held in Berlin is canceled at the last minute. Facebook also canceled one of its May conferences, which was meant for the developers. The game developers conference, about to held on March 16 in San Francisco, is at risk after all the big organizations are seen canceling events. Microsoft Corp., Electronic Arts Inc., and Sony Corp. have all pulled out. Google is still set to open the biggest annual event for early May.

Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., said on Friday that one of the employees had been diagnosed with the virus. He was working in the company’s Zurich office before he showed any symptoms of the Coronavirus, the spokesman said. The employee contracted the Coronavirus after he traveled to the affected area, as told by the Bloomberg News. Google will ban its employees from traveling, from Japan and South Korea from March 2, according to the memo.

What will be the impact of the virus on Google’s business on a broader term is still unclear. The company’s advertising revenue might get affected because of the general economic slowdown because thousands of small business organizations that buy ads on Google’s websites are having trouble importing products from China. Google’s spokesman has declined to comment on the confirmation of event cancellation further.