In light of the COVID-19 global outbreak, IMO decided to postpone its meetings. In fact, this decision came following United Kingdom’s action to “delay” the phase of its coronavirus action plan and of course due to the increased travel restrictions and difficulties that delegates will face in order to attend the IMO gatherings.
As IMO informed, the following meetings are postponed:
- The meeting of the Scientific Group of the London Convention and London Protocol scheduled to take place from 9 to 13 March 2020.
- The 107th session of the Legal Committee, scheduled to take place from 16 to 20 March 2020.
Following the coronavirus situation, IMO announced that will keep monitoring all developments concerning the disease, as it will publish future postponement of meetings as soon as possible.
In response to the challenges faced by the shipping industry during this coronavirus outbreak, IMO along with the World Health Organization have joined forces to issue a joint- statement so as to ensure that health measures are implemented in ways that minimize unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade.
Concluding, WHO recently declared the COVID-19 a pandemic, in light of both the alarming levels of its spread and severity, and “the alarming levels of inaction”. This is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus.
