World Economic Forum Scraps Davos Meeting Over Omicron Concerns

DAVOS, Switzerland — For the second year in a row, the coronavirus is wreaking havoc on the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.

The organization, which has been hosting the high-profile networking event for business executives, world leaders and other members of the global elite since the 1970s, announced Monday it has decided to “defer” this year’s meeting “in the light of continued uncertainty over the omicron outbreak.”

The meeting had been scheduled to take place on Jan. 17-21 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. The plan now is to hold it in early summer.

In the meantime, the forum said prospective attendees will instead participate in a series of “State of the World” sessions bringing together global leaders online “to focus on shaping solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.”

“The deferral of the Annual Meeting will not prevent progress through continued digital convening of leaders from business, government and civil society,” said professor Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum in a written statement.

“Public-private cooperation has moved forward throughout the pandemic and that will continue apace. We look forward to bringing global leaders together in person soon,” he added.

The forum’s last in-person annual meeting took place in January 2020, just as the first wave of the coronavirus was spreading across the Western Hemisphere.

Since then the World Economic Forum has been forced to change its meeting plans at least six times.

The organization had imposed extensive safety protocols for the upcoming event, hoping to get the meeting back on track.

To participate, attendees had to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and would have needed to take a PCR test 72 hours before arriving, another test to activate the badges that would grant them access to the main event areas and hotels, and further tests every 48 hours.

But a global surge in the omicron variant has reportedly had a dramatic impact on event registrations.

According to the Financial Times of London, as of last week, only 2,000 people had registered for the January event, about two-thirds the number who attended the event in 2020.

“Current pandemic conditions make it extremely difficult to deliver a global in-person meeting,” the forum said in a press release. “Preparations have been guided by expert advice and have benefited from the close collaboration of the Swiss government at all levels.

“Despite the meeting’s stringent health protocols, the transmissibility of omicron and its impact on travel and mobility have made deferral necessary,” the organization said.

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