Google cancels physical I/O dev fest due to coronavirus

The novel coronavirus scare continues to wreak havoc upon technology conferences, with Google popular I/O 2020 developer event originally scheduled for May 14 now being turned online-only.

"Due to concerns around the coronavirus (Covid-19), and in accordance with health guidance from the CDC, WHO, and other health authorities, we have decided to cancel the physical Google I/O event at Shoreline Amphitheatre," the internet giant posted on its events website today.

People who have bought tickets for the event will receive a full refund by March 14 Australian time.

They will also automatically be excluded from next year's draw for tickets, and be granted the option of purchasing them for I/O 2021.

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a large number of technology oriented conferences around the world being cancelled or turned into online-only events.

Among these are the Mobile World Congress 2020 that was to be held in Barcelona in February, Melbourne's Cisco Live event also in the same month, Facebook's F8 conference in May and Microsoft's MVP Global Summit this month in the United States.