Government sympathises with those affected and considers that cancellation of Mobile World Congress is not on grounds of public health

The government regrets the decision officially notified on Thursday morning, but welcomes the announcement made by the organisation of the MWC to maintain its commitment and continue to hold this important event in Barcelona in the coming years. This is wonderful news for Barcelona, for Catalonia and for Spain.

With the information available at this time and in conformity with the experts, the government considers that there are no prevailing public health grounds not to hold events of this nature in our country. Spain has a National Health System with universal coverage, acknowledged at an international level, which offers full healthcare guarantees in situations such as the present one.

The government has followed the recommendations of the World Health Organization at all times, which has not established any restrictions on the free movement of people or goods to date. It has expressed this fact to the event's organisers.

Only two cases have been confirmed of the coronavirus in patients in Spain, who have shown no symptoms to date and who caught the virus beyond our borders. On Thursday, some 20 Spanish citizens who travelled back from Wuhan received a medical discharge from Gómez Ulla Hospital in Madrid, where they had been in quarantine. No other incident has been detected and the risk level in Spain is considered low.

The health authorities will continue to work on offering all necessary guarantees on public health matters. The government thanks the organisers and all the authorities involved in holding the MWC for their hard work and efforts to ensure that the event held in Barcelona continues to be the most important in the sector on the international stage and reiterates its commitment to ensuring that this remains the case in the coming years.

Non official translation