SIPS RECENT NEWS
COVID-19 Situation - July 1, 2020
In light of the current COVID-19 situation, health of the attendees is always a prime concern to us. In this regard, we are monitoring the situation daily.
Since almost all conferences planned in September, October, November and December 2020 are still being held and have not been postponed, as of now we are keeping the summit dates the same and we are continuing to accept abstracts. The following is a partial list of conferences that are not postponed. There are in Asia, US, Europe and everywhere.
The conferences that are postponed to 2021 seem to be because they cannot be held during winter time. In Thailand, it is summer in December. Furthermore, the COVID-19 cases in Thailand are very low for the moment and because the Thailand government is planning to sponsor SIPS 2020, we are keeping the original dates.
Nevertheless, we have a plan B and we will postpone if and when necessary. The postponement criteria will be based on the official travel advisories from WHO (World Health Organization), those of the host country and other countries. If they officially announce that it is not safe to travel, we will postpone for some months. We will closely follow the travel advice from Europe/US governments and from World Health Organization as an official criterion. This is also the criteria to postpone with the hotel since we have a big financial liability to them.
We hope that a vaccine or at least a cure is found before. You never know. They are speaking that by August we should have something to start with.
We are receiving abstracts every day. We have close to 200 abstracts submitted until now. They are being submitted every day. Authors from France have even booked the flights to Thailand and have been asking to book the hotel in Thailand. Some are asking about our special airlines prices. We already have many special rates given to us by airlines very recently and many others are coming. Please see the information on the website (
www.flogen.org/sips2020/page.php?p=21). No airline told us that there is an issue with COVID for the dates of our summit.
In this point of view, the abstracts may be submitted as soon as possible since the system will be still open for a limited time. The registration fees are not required to be paid at the same time of abstract submission, but later. In case of any eventual postponement, the abstracts submitted for the current dates will be valid for the new postponed dates. If potential authors need more time to submit abstracts they can contact us and we are willing to give more time to facilitate the formalities with their workplace.
Again, please rest assured that the safety of all of us is our priority. If WHO (World Health Origination) and government official advise avoiding non-essential travel at the time of the summit we will postpone the summit and will hold it at the same place and at the same hotel for some months later. The new potential new dates will be chosen in broad consultation with the authors. We will make a decision later when the official travel advisory is posted in order to be legally responsible for the terms of the financial liability contract we have with the hotel.
It would be a great pleasure to have you join us. Should you have any concerns or questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at
symposiums@flogen.org
SIPS 2020 Organizing Committee
