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\"As we place the utmost importance on the safety and wellbeing of our customers, partners, media and employees, we have taken the difficult decision to withdraw from exhibiting and participating at MWC 2020 in Barcelona, Spain,\" was the statement from Sony.

Vivo, a China-based tech company also confirmed with ABC News that it would not attend MWC.

\"Vivo has been closely monitoring the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (NCP) outbreak and continuously evaluating planned activities. The health and safety of our employees and the public are our top priority. Based on the present situation, we have decided to withdraw from our debut at MWC 2020 and other related events later this month in Barcelona, Spain,\" a Vivo spokesperson stated in an email.

There were calls across social media for MWC to go on, some of which come from industry analysts who attend the event every year.

\"I think MWC should go on and I will be attending. I also feel that as media, even if MWC is cancelled, there might still be enough pre-show press events happening that might still be worth going. I believe that with the right (and current -- pretty drastic, IMO) precautions, MWC can still happen safely,\" tech industry consultant and host of the Mobile Tech Podcast, Myriam Joire, told ABC News in a message.

On Twitter, longtime leading mobile tech analyst Sascha Segan urged the MWC organizers to not \"give into hysteria.\"

No. Stand firm @GSMA and don't give in to hysteria. https://t.co/ot2VSS6PKZ

— Sascha Segan (@saschasegan) February 11, 2020

Yet, a contingency of voices opposed the event being held. One online petition is called for MWC's postponement.

The global death toll from the new coronavirus outbreak -- 1,115 is the most recent figure -- has already surpassed that of the SARS epidemic. All but one of the deaths have occurred in China. The only death from the outbreak outside of China was in the Philippines.

Since the first cases were detected back in December in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, China's National Health Commission said Tuesday that it has recorded a total of 44,730 confirmed coronavirus cases. There are at least 441 cases confirmed in 24 other countries, according to the World Health Organization, which has declared the outbreak a global health emergency.

ABC News' Morgan Winsor and Erin Schumaker contributed to this report.

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