Xiaomi, Realme Cancel Launch Events Of Smartphones Amid Coronavirus Scare

Chinese smartphone companies Xiaomi and realme have cancelled their launch events of smartphones scheduled for the next two weeks in the wake of coronavirus fears in the country. Realme was scheduled to unveil its realme 6 series on March 5 while Xiaomi was slated to launch Redmi Note series on March 12.

However, it is not clear whether Motorola – will go ahead to launch its new flagship handset ‘Motorola Razr’ in India on March 16.

“We won’t be holding any launch events on-ground through March. While we have been planning for this launch for months, we believe this is an unprecedented yet extremely important step,” Xiaomi Vice President and India Managing Director Manu Jain said in a statement.

He further said the company will not hold any launch events in March and will provide update regarding future launches by the end of the month. Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth tweeted that the company is calling off its March 5 event.

“In light of current reports of #coronavirus impact & related advisory by health officials to maintain social distance as a precautionary measure, I’m calling off our biggest event. Will still give live speech in stadium with you watching #realme6series event online,” he said.

The government has stepped up its efforts to detect and check the infection which has killed over 3,100 people worldwide.

Recently, Six Chinese nationals, who arrived in Himachal Pradesh in the past few days, were put under surveillance here on Wednesday in view of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, an official said.

The Chinese nationals, who arrived here in two batches on February 13 and February 16 via Kolkata, were "asymptomatic".

Five of them came to India from China on January 28 and 29, whereas the sixth Chinese national came from Malaysia on January 29. The five Chinese were screened in China before leaving for India and they were again screened at the Kolkata airport.

(With inputs froom PTI)