Coronavirus Results in Cancellation of Tours, Video Game Conferences, Fashion Weeks
Written by SOURCE on February 28, 2020
As was surely expected at this point in the ongoing confusion of the novel coronavirus, a number of events ranging from tours to developer conferences have been called off.
Both BTS and recent releaser of Father of All Motherfuckers Green Day announced on Thursday that multiple upcoming international dates on their respective schedules had been ditched.
“We have unfortunately made the difficult decision to postpone our upcoming shows in Asia due to the health and travel concerns with coronavirus,” Green Day said in a statement shared to social media. “We know it sucks, as we were looking forward to seeing you all, but hold on to your tickets. We’ll be announcing the new dates very soon.”
Green Day had shows set for Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, and more. BTS had planned to kick off a run of shows in April in Seoul, South Korea. Stormzy, the National Symphony Orchestra, and others have also announced canceled dates.
COVID-19 has also made an impact across the larger pop culture spectrum. In addition to the previously reported production pause on the Italy set of the latest Mission: Impossible sequel, the tech industry has also taken a hit. Facebook’s F8 developers conference (set for this May) and their global marketing summit this month have been nixed. The Mobile World Congress, a phone trade show in Barcelona, has also been called off.
Per the Washington Post, the Game Developers Conference has also been hit hard by coronavirus fears, with a number of major industry players choosing to sit this one out. Thursday saw official word from Epic Games and Unreal Engine that they would be withdrawing their attendance due to “uncertainty around health concerns.”
EA, Sony, Unity, Microsoft, and Kojima Productions also ultimately decided to pull out of the event.
Beijing and Shanghai fashion weeks, the Chinese Grand Prix, the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland, a pair of Six Nations rugby matches, and China’s annual National People’s Congress gathering are among the other high-profile events affected in the way of cancelations or potential reschedulings.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, meanwhile, has announced that “all engagements” will remain “indefinitely postponed” due to coronavirus concerns.
Much talk has also been centered on the rumored cancelation of the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics, though the latest word from the local organizing committee, per NPR, suggested otherwise.
“Tokyo 2020 will continue to collaborate with all relevant organisations which carefully monitor any incidence of infectious diseases and will review any countermeasures that may be necessary with all relevant organisations,” the local organizing committee said Thursday. “The rest is speculation.”
Anyway, please wash your hands and whatnot. And for the latest word from the CDC, click here.
