Gastroenterology conferences continue to be postponed or cancelled in response to the threat of COVID-19 and practicalities of massive travel restrictions.
The latest to fall has been the International Liver Congress (ILC2020) which was recently postponed from its scheduled date of April to an optimistic August.
“Having reviewed the situation, and after taking extensive advice, we have decided on a postponement to 25-28 August 2020 in London at the same venue.”
“Delegate registrations will remain valid and we strongly recommend that you keep your registration for the new dates. But if individuals cannot or do not wish to attend, we will provide a refund of registration fees, minus the handling management fee required by our agencies,” a statement on the EASL website said.
Locally, the Sydney International Endoscopy Symposium scheduled for later this month has been cancelled.
Meetings such as the GESA Hepatology Advanced Trainees Course have been rescheduled while others including NETI Colonoscopy Update Course (May) and AGW (August) are under review or a watch-and-wait.
In Adelaide, the 4th meeting of the Federation of Neurogastroenterology and Motility (FNM 2020) is still going ahead despite the loss of some presenters.
Meanwhile in the US, Digestive Disease Week (DDW2020) appears immovable and its only public response last week was to extend the period for early bird registration.
#COVID19 & #DDW2020 update as of 3/11: to provide flexibility, we have extended the early bird registration discount through April 30, and now offer a full refund if your plans change. More info & FAQs can be found online. https://t.co/k8EZbkgkDP pic.twitter.com/ZPS1a34yQJ
— Digestive Disease Wk (@DDWMeeting) March 11, 2020
However given a number of other Chicago conferences have cancelled, tightening travel restrictions and general risk-aversion, the discussion on Twitter suggests it is only a matter of time.
Should #DDW2020 @DDWMeeting be cancelled? #Covid_19 Social distancing is important to #FlattenTheCurve . I ran this poll two weeks ago and people said no (62%) @AmerGastroAssn thanks for your leadership on this!
— John Ding MD PhD (@IBD_JohnD) March 13, 2020