HomeNewsTechnologyCOVID-19 impact | Computex 2020 is officially cancelled and will return in 2021

COVID-19 impact | Computex 2020 is officially cancelled and will return in 2021

The next event will be held from June 1 to June 5 in 2021.

June 15, 2020 / 19:14 IST
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The coronavirus crisis continues to impact the tech world with the latest victim being Computex. After initially postponing the event from June to September, the organisers have now decided to cancel the event altogether.

Like a number of 2020’s biggest tech events, Computex will also miss a year. The next Computex event will be held from June 1 to June 5 in 2021. The coronavirus pandemic and the resulting health and travel restrictions had resulted in the event’s rescheduling for September.

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But despite the decision taken in March, the three months have not been sufficient to make the show work. Participants will face major hurdles in attending the show in Taipei in September, and as a result, event organiser TAITRA has abandoned plans on hosting the trade show this year.

To the uninitiated, Computex is one of the world’s largest IT trade shows and is a major event for PC-related announcements. Last year, Computex 2019 drew nearly 43,000 visitors from 171 countries. Computex 2020 is not the only annual tech trade show to be cancelled. Earlier this year, MWC 2020, E3 2020, and Google I/O 2020 were all called off due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19 Vaccine
Frequently Asked Questions

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How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.
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