Google cancels major developer conference due to coronavirus fears

Google on Wednesday announced that they would be canceling their annual I/O developer conference that was set to take place at their Mountain View, Calif., headquarters in May due to concerns over the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Google cited advisories from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) as the reason for their cancellation.

They become the latest group to cancel major conferences in light of the outbreak.

This week Facebook announced that they would be pulling out of panels they were set to participate in at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. Amnesty International announced on Monday that they would also be canceling their annual meeting in San Diego. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced Tuesday their annual spring meetings in Washington, D.C., scheduled for April would be canceled as well. 

Like those groups, Google is searching for a digital alternative. 

“Over the coming weeks, we will explore other ways to evolve Google I/O to best connect with our developer community,” Google’s announcement read.

The company also typically unveils new versions of Android products at I/O, which was scheduled for May 12 and May 14 of this year.