By Winnie Kabintie

If you are planning to book hotels and flights for an international conference you might need to hold on to avoid losses in the wake of numerous cancellations of global events due to the coronavirus outbreak.

A good number of scheduled international events, including major festivals and conferences have been canceled by their respective organizers, owing to the rising cases of the COVID-19 outbreak spreads around the world.

Among the canceled events is Wikimedia’s 2020 Creative Commons Global Summit.

“I’m writing with an important update about the 2020 Creative Commons Global Summit. You’ve surely seen the news that as the COVID-19 outbreak spreads around the world, scores of major conferences and meetings are being canceled, postponed, and/or turned into online events. After much thoughtful deliberation, we have decided to follow the lead of so many other organizations and cancel this year’s Summit” read part of an email by the CC Summit Team sent to members of the community.

COVID-19 Scare -The 2020 International Journalism Festival Canceled

“We announce the cancellation of the 2020 International Journalism Festival due to the public health risks caused by COVID-19. The health and safety of festival speakers, attendees, volunteers, staff, suppliers as well as that of the citizens of Perugia is and must remain our top priority,” the Organisers of the festival announced.

Netflix Cancels SXSW 2020 Festival Over Coronavirus Fears

Netflix on Thursday announced the cancellation of SXSW 2020 screenings and the screenings of five films and also a panel discussion on Black Excellence, over the COVID-19 outbreak.

As reported by Variety Magazine, which broke the news in an exclusive update; the five films whose screenings  have been canceled include, the feature film “Uncorked,” and four documentaries: “A Secret Love,” “L.A. Originals,” “Mucho Mucho Amor,” “Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics.”

Apple Pulls Out of SXSW 2020 Over Coronavirus Concerns

Netflix’s cancellation of SXSW 2020 followed Apple’s decision to pull out of the event over Coronavirus Concerns on the 4th March.

Apple had reportedly planned to premiere three new Apple TV Plus originals at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival, which had been scheduled for March 13-22nd.

The South by Southwest® (SXSW®) celebrates the convergence of the interactive, film, and music industries.

Pan African Youth Conference In Kenya Postponed

The African Youth Commission (AYC) has also postponed a 4-day youth conference, scheduled to take place in Nairobi later this month.

IYONS 2020 Youth Summit in India Postponed

Organizers of IYONS 2020, a global youth conference in Bhubaneswar, India, also announced the “postponement” of the event, which had been set for later this month, over coronavirus.

“Foreseeing the global epidemic situation due to Corona Virus and as advised by the Health Department, IYONS BOARD with immense scrutinization has decided to postpone the “IYONS SUMMIT – 2020” planned on March 27th of this year.
Despite the hard endeavors from the board to host you and the overwhelming responses from all across the globe for the summit, we deeply regret the inconvenience,” the IYON secretariat announced to participants who had already registered for the event.

Will Cannes Festival 2020 Succumb to COVID-19?

Now all eyes are on France, where the government has imposed a ban on public gatherings till May 31, raising speculations on whether the 2020 edition of the prestigious Cannes Festival will see the light of day despite organisers of Cannes maintaining that the festival will carry on as planned.

The 73rd annual Cannes Film Festival is scheduled to take place from 12 to 23 May 2020, and early this week French conference organizer Reed Midem announced the cancelation of MipTV, its TV market in  Cannes while Canneseries, the annual drama festival run in partnership with Reed Midem, has been postponed to run alongside Mipcom in October.

“We understand the concern that has been expressed following the postponement of Cannes Series and the cancellation of MIPTV, but as of today nothing indicates that the Cannes Film Festival will not take place. The Cannes Film Festival staff, Thierry Frémaux and the selection committee are all currently working on the organization of the event.” Cannes festival organisers said in an update.