The Seoul Fashion Week that was scheduled from March 17 to March 21 is to be canceled amid the increasing concern over the rapidly spreading coronavirus in Korea, as reported by The Korea Herald.
An official from the Seoul Metropolitan Government in-charge of the biannual fashion week commented, “we have internally decided to cancel the 2020 fall-winter Seoul Fashion Week and will notify the concerned parties of the decision in a few days.” He also said, “However, we will seek ways to support and help designers in Korea by hosting other international design fairs instead.”
Seoul Fashion Week 2020 shows to be canceled#FashionWeek #Seoul #Korea #COVID19 https://t.co/cWcQjMAWPH
— The Korea Herald (@TheKoreaHerald) February 25, 2020
The cancellation is only for the 2020 Fall-Winter show, and the 2021 Spring-Summer will be held in October as scheduled.
As soon as the decision is made, the Seoul Design Foundation, organizer of Seoul Fashion Week will announce the cancellation. The officials are waiting for the notice from the Seoul Metropolitan Government regarding this issue.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, 36 designers were scheduled to participate in the main 2020FW shows. The shows generally invite buyers from all over the world, including the US, Europe, and many Asian countries. Encouraging buyers to attend the shows is not possible in the current scenario with all the travel restrictions and the rapidly increasing number of coronavirus cases in South Korea. Not only that, various designers, both domestic and international, have been pulling out.
What is coronavirus?
The coronavirus is one of the most contagious and deadliest of similar past epidemics. The number of cases and deaths has surpassed those associated with the 2003 SARS outbreak in less than a quarter of the time. As of February 23, all over the world, there are 78,000 cases of confirmed coronavirus. The virus has spread to at least 33 other countries, and South Korea currently has the second largest number of novel coronavirus cases behind China. The number spiked from a few dozen to almost 900 cases within a week.
Coronavirus: What you need to know (Video Explainer from The Guardian
Also, you can check the coronavirus live status and related news for South Korea here.
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