San Francisco (CNN Business)Google is canceling its biggest event of the year because of concerns about the coronavirus.
The 2020 edition of Google I/O, an annual developer conference originally scheduled for May 12-14 at Google's Mountainview headquarters, will no longer take place, the company confirmed on Tuesday.
"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," a company spokesperson told CNN Business. Google is currently weighing other options to engage with its developer audience.
People who have already purchased tickets for the conference will receive a full refund by March 13 and will not have to re-register to buy a ticket for I/O 2021, Google (GOOGL) said on the conference website.
The annual developer event is the latest in a rapidly growing list of tech events that have been shelved because of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 3,100 people around the world, including nine in the United States.
Facebook canceled two conferences in recent weeks, including its big annual event, F8, weeks after the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was also canceled. Companies like Microsoft (MSFT) and Apple (AAPL) have said the virus could result in a hit to their sales.
