Last checked at 
* GSMA board convened at 1300 GMT - sources
* We are monitoring fast-paced coronavirus situation - GSMA
* European operators, key backers of event pull out
* Authorities, WHO urge calm over coronavirus risks
(Updates with GSMA, Barcelona mayor, WHO, Deutsche Telekom)
By Isla Binnie, Mathieu Rosemain and Douglas Busvine
MADRID/PARIS/BERLIN, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Organisers of the
Mobile World Congress (MWC) will decide on Wednesday whether to
cancel the event, two sources said, after several major European
telecom companies pulled out due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, BT and
Nokia said they would not be attending and a source
said Orange was set to join them although the French
company said it had not taken any final decision.
The telecom industry's biggest get together, scheduled for
Feb. 24-27, typically draws more than 100,000 visitors to
Barcelona. The GSMA industry group that hosts the event
estimates it gives a lift of around half a billion dollars to
the Spanish economy.
The GSMA convened a 'virtual' meeting of its board,
consisting of 25 industry bosses, at 1300 GMT to discuss its
options, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
The withdrawals on Wednesday by core members of the GSMA
followed the loss of top industry names from the United States,
Japan and Korea.
In a holding statement pending further updates, the GSMA
said it was monitoring the "fast-changing situation" around the
coronavirus while working with the Spanish and global health
authorities to ensure the wellbeing of attendees.
Barcelona's mayor Ada Colau said on Wednesday she wanted to
send a "message of calm", insisting the city was ready to host
the event. Spanish health officials have said there is no need
to declare a health emergency.
That failed, however, to alleviate concerns among major
exhibitors that the precautions would be insufficient to halt
the virus that has spread beyond China's borders to two dozen
countries.
"To bring people together and connect them: That is what
Telekom stands for. This is also what the Mobile World Congress,
the 'class reunion' of our industry, stands for," Deutsche
Telekom CEO Tim Hoettges posted on LinkedIn.
He added, however, that large gatherings of people with many
international guests posed a particular risk: "To take this risk
would be irresponsible."
MOBILE CHINA CONGRESS?
Major Chinese exhibitors, led by Huawei, vowed to
attend, ordering at-risk staff to isolate themselves and
drafting in replacements from elsewhere to staff event stands
and network with clients.
The GSMA had banned attendees from China's Hubei province,
where the coronavirus outbreak began, and required others to
prove that they had been outside the country for at least two
weeks prior to the event.
Coronavirus has proved to be contagious even when people who
have caught it are asymptomatic, meaning that people attending
the MWC might not even realise that they could infect others
they meet there.
Reconstructing meetings and movements across the Fira trade
grounds and the city of Barcelona of anyone who later tests
positive would be a difficult task.
In China, total infections have hit 44,653, health officials
said, including 2,015 new confirmed cases. The number of deaths
on the mainland rose by 97 to 1,113 by the end of Tuesday.
(Writing by Douglas Busvine; Additional reporting by Supantha
Mukherjee, Tarmo Virki, Joan Faus, Can Sezer and Stephanie
Nebehay; editing by Keith Weir and Elaine Hardcastle)
