For the second consecutive year, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has postponed the forum’s meeting that was scheduled for Jan. 17-21 at Davos, the Swiss mountain resort.
“Despite the meeting’s stringent health protocols, the transmissibility of Omicron and its impact on travel and mobility have made deferral necessary,” the organization told the Wall Street Journal.
For now, WEF organizers said the in-person conference could be held this summer, while online sessions are possible in January.
The decision to put off the 47-year-old annual event, which has attracted leaders from across the globe including President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping, comes as Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett asked companies to have employees work remotely. He said the country is facing its fifth COVID-19 surge.
“In my opinion, in three or four weeks, maybe sooner, we will see a jump in morbidity that will leave no room for doubt,” Bennett told the newspaper.
Israel said it plans to put the U.S., Canada and eight other nations on a growing list of countries that it prohibits its residents from visiting.
Italy, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Morocco, Portugal, Turkey and Switzerland were the latest nations to be included in the travel ban.
The decision was made, in part, because most of Israel’s confirmed Omicron cases are returnees from global travel.
“The numbers are still not high, but this is a very contagious variant and doubles every two or three days, as we are seeing around the world. It is possible to say that the fifth wave has begun,” Bennett said.
Omicron has also caused the Netherlands government to reimpose a lockdown over the weekend. As a result, nonessential shops and restaurants must be shuttered until mid-January.
It is the same in Denmark, where movie theaters, amusement parks and museums will close for the next month.
Government officials in Germany are expected to meet for a COVID-19 session Tuesday to consider more restrictions as the holiday season approaches.
Still, not all conferences have been deferred.
The National Retail Federation’s Big Show, scheduled for next month in New York City, is still being held. But conference organizers have posted on their website that attendees must provide proof that they are vaccinated for COVID-19.
The same is true for the Consumer Electronics Show, set for January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada.
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