To combat the spread of the “Covid-19” coronavirus, Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health on 28 February banned large-scale gatherings involving more than 1,000 people. The ban will apply “at least until 15 March 2020.” As a result, the “Geneva International Motor Show 2020”, originally due to take place 5-15 March, has been cancelled (and not postponed). Several other major events have also been impacted – see Plasteurope.com of 27.02.2020.

Arburg (Lossburg / Germany; www.arburg.com) has also cancelled its international “Technology Days” event, which was scheduled for 11-14 March 2020 in Lossburg. The company said the measure was taken in view of developments with the coronavirus situation. Arburg said the cancellation of the injection moulding event, which has around 6,000 visitors attend each year, was “purely preventive.” As of 26 February, there were no suspected cases in the immediate vicinity of the company. However, the opening of its training centre is still scheduled be held on 6 March 2020.

For Messe Düsseldorf, which is organising the world’s leading packaging trade fair, “Interpack”, running 7-13 May 2020, “there is currently no reason to postpone or cancel upcoming trade fairs.” Interpack normally attracts more than 170,000 visitors. Messe Düsseldorf said it is monitoring developments closely and in direct contact with the health authorities.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) situation report from 27 February, there were 82,294 confirmed cases of Covid-19 globally. Outside of China, there were 3,664 confirmed cases on that date, with a total of 486 in Europe.