Coronavirus Update: Microsoft’s Build Developer Conference Goes Online Only Because Of COVID-19 Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic has affected several events and conferences as government officials advise against large gatherings. Build developer conference by Microsoft is another tech event that is going to be an online event instead of an in-person conference.

Microsoft Build is scheduled to happen from May 19-21. In a statement to CNBC, the organizers said that keeping the safety as the top priority, they will deliver this year’s Build event for developers as an online convention.

“The safety of our community is a top priority. In light of the health safety recommendations for Washington State, we will deliver our annual Microsoft Build event for developers as a digital event, in lieu of an in-person event. We look forward to bringing together our ecosystem of developers in this new virtual format to learn, connect and code together. Stay tuned for more details to come.”

These are some of the tech events that are being canceled, postponed or going digital due to coronavirus pandemic.

1. Black Hat Asia 2020 - The event scheduled from March 31 to April 3 in Singapore is delayed until Sep. 29 to Oct. 2.
2. Adobe Summit - This will be a digital-only conference from Mar. 29 to Apr. 2 in Las Vegas.
3. Facebook F8 - The event is scheduled from May 6-8 in San Jose, CA is canceled.
4. E3 is canceled - The event was set to happen in Los Angeles from June 9-11.
5. Game Developers Conference (GDC) - It is postponed to summer 2020. Earlier, it was scheduled from March 16-20 in San Francisco.
6. Google I/O - It is scheduled from Mar 12-14 in Mountain View, CA is canceled.

According to John Hopkins University, coronavirus has killed close to 5000 people with 3062 deaths in Hubei, China and 1016 deaths in Italy. The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases is 135,318 across the world. Interestingly, 69,645 people have recovered from coronavirus illness. Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued emergency authorization to conduct a coronavirus test made by Roche, a Swiss diagnostics maker. The tests bring out results in 3.5 hours and can generate 4128 results in 24 hours, CNBC reported.