<p class="title">Facebook on Thursday cancelled its annual F8 developers conference, the biggest annual event for the US tech giant, over fears about the possible spread of the novel coronavirus.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The gathering in the Silicon Valley city of San Jose -- which had been set for early May -- typically draws thousands of software makers from around the world who collaborate with the tech giant on its platform.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"In light of the growing concerns around COVID-19, we've made the difficult decision to cancel the in-person component of F8 this year, in order to prioritise the health and safety of our developer partners, employees and everyone who helps put F8 on," Facebook said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Face-to-face interaction at the conference center in San Jose will be replaced with presentations streamed online.</p>.<p class="bodytext">F8 sessions and demonstrations usually span its "family" of offerings including the main social network, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and virtual reality unit Oculus.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This was a tough call to make -- F8 is an incredibly important event for Facebook and it's one of our favourite ways to celebrate all of you from around the world," director of platform partnerships Konstantinos Papamiltiadis said in a message to developers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We explored other ways to keep the in-person part of F8, but it's important to us to host an inclusive event and it didn't feel right to have F8 without our international developers in attendance."</p>.<p class="bodytext">The World Health Organisation declared Thursday that the new coronavirus epidemic was at a "decisive point" as countries across the globe battled to contain the deadly outbreak.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Alarm is growing as China is no longer the only breeding ground for COVID-19, with other countries including South Korea and Italy becoming hotbeds of infection, raising fears of a pandemic.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The virus has already killed more than 2,700 people, mostly in China -- where it first emerged in December -- and infected more than 81,000 in over 45 countries.</p>.<p class="bodytext">US public health officials confirmed a coronavirus case in Northern California, the first of unknown origin out of about 60 cases, and have told Americans to be ready to cancel mass gatherings and work from home.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The epidemic has prompted warnings of a financial impact from tech giants including Apple and Microsoft.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Both Facebook and Microsoft said Thursday they were withdrawing from the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco set for March. </p>
<p class="title">Facebook on Thursday cancelled its annual F8 developers conference, the biggest annual event for the US tech giant, over fears about the possible spread of the novel coronavirus.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The gathering in the Silicon Valley city of San Jose -- which had been set for early May -- typically draws thousands of software makers from around the world who collaborate with the tech giant on its platform.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"In light of the growing concerns around COVID-19, we've made the difficult decision to cancel the in-person component of F8 this year, in order to prioritise the health and safety of our developer partners, employees and everyone who helps put F8 on," Facebook said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Face-to-face interaction at the conference center in San Jose will be replaced with presentations streamed online.</p>.<p class="bodytext">F8 sessions and demonstrations usually span its "family" of offerings including the main social network, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and virtual reality unit Oculus.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This was a tough call to make -- F8 is an incredibly important event for Facebook and it's one of our favourite ways to celebrate all of you from around the world," director of platform partnerships Konstantinos Papamiltiadis said in a message to developers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We explored other ways to keep the in-person part of F8, but it's important to us to host an inclusive event and it didn't feel right to have F8 without our international developers in attendance."</p>.<p class="bodytext">The World Health Organisation declared Thursday that the new coronavirus epidemic was at a "decisive point" as countries across the globe battled to contain the deadly outbreak.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Alarm is growing as China is no longer the only breeding ground for COVID-19, with other countries including South Korea and Italy becoming hotbeds of infection, raising fears of a pandemic.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The virus has already killed more than 2,700 people, mostly in China -- where it first emerged in December -- and infected more than 81,000 in over 45 countries.</p>.<p class="bodytext">US public health officials confirmed a coronavirus case in Northern California, the first of unknown origin out of about 60 cases, and have told Americans to be ready to cancel mass gatherings and work from home.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The epidemic has prompted warnings of a financial impact from tech giants including Apple and Microsoft.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Both Facebook and Microsoft said Thursday they were withdrawing from the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco set for March. </p>