WEF postpones Davos meeting on COVID-19 uncertainty

Logo of World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has postponed the annual January meeting of world leaders, billionaires and executives in Davos, Switzerland due to health and safety concerns over COVID-19.

“The World Economic Forum will defer its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in the light of continued uncertainty over the Omicron outbreak,” CNBC reported, citing a WEF statement.

An online series of “State of the World” sessions will be held instead, “to focus on shaping solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.”

The in-person event was scheduled from Jan. 17-21 to address “economic, environmental, political and social fault-lines exacerbated by the pandemic.

WEF added that the pandemic conditions had made it “extremely difficult” to stage a global in-person meeting next month, adding that the transmissibility of the Omicron variant and its impact on travel and mobility had made deferral necessary.