COVID-19: EFORT’s OFFICIAL STATEMENT FOR VIENNA 2020
EFORT Head Office, Rolle, Switzerland, 06 April 2020
Dear EFORT Community,
On 10 March 2020 the EFORT Board still felt optimistic that the 21st EFORT Annual Congress could take place as planned. Today also the Austrian Federal Chancellery shared its measures for a successive re-opening of activities, whereas it announced that no events would be allowed to take place until at least end of June. (source: https://www.bundeskanzleramt.gv.at only in German).
The EFORT Board always consider the safety & health of all participants, sponsors, service providers and staff to be their absolute priority. At this stage, we would like to express our solidarity with all those affected by this pandemic and with all scientific organisations committed to delivering healthcare-related events aiming to promote health, research and the well-being of our patients.
Today the global Covid-19 pandemic has forced us to take the difficult decision to postpone the next face-to-face EFORT Annual Congress to next year and to create a new educational offer in the Autumn.
Vienna and the Messe Vienna Exhibition & Congress Center have been exemplary in managing this crisis in partnership with us, and we are delighted and relieved to announce to the entire Orthopaedic and Trauma Community that EFORT will host its
22nd EFORT Annual Congress in Vienna from
30 June to 02 July 2021
at the same venue, the Messe Vienna Exhibition & Congress Center.
In its commitment to deliver a high quality scientific programme, as well as offer progressive tools for training & education, however, EFORT will also launch this year its first ever Virtual EFORT Congress (VEC). We are proud to announce that EFORT will organize the 21st EFORT Annual Congress as the –
Virtual EFORT Congress (VEC-Congress) in the week of
26 to 30 October 2020.
The exciting educational programme will comprise free paper presentations as well as sessions showcasing the latest advances in Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Europe-wide and globally.
In order to cement partnerships in the new format between EFORT and industry we are working on virtual solutions in the field of online exhibitions and other O&T health-promoting channels, offering sponsored sessions, online networking and social media marketing.
We know that there will be a lot of questions arising from this decision and we are eager to answer them fully as our plans come to fruition. To this end we will work towards a detailed FAQ section, soon to be available on the EFORT website, and invite you to check back regularly.
With your support we believe more than ever that our community will maintain its professional development and sustain solidarity through this and any crisis.
Let’s stay strong together, safe and at home for the time being.
The EFORT Board and teams
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