First Crypto Victim: Diagnosed With Coronavirus After Attending Two Recent Ethereum Community Conferences

A blockchain project executive was recently diagnosed with the coronavirus. He recently attended two major blockchain conferences and encouraged people who had close contact with him to get tested, as well.

Diagnosed With COVID-19 After Attending Ethereum Conferences

Zhen Yu Yong (Zen) is the Co-founder of TorusLabs – a decentralized login service company. Earlier today, he noted that after falling ill, he was later diagnosed with COVID-2019 (coronavirus.)

Yong recently attended two major blockchain conferences – ETHLondon (February 28th – March 1st) and Ethereum Community Conference (March 3rd – 5th in Paris, France.) As such, he urged the people who may have been in close contact to receive medical attention, as well.

I fell ill yesterday and have just been diagnosed with #COVID2019. Everybody who had close contact @EthCC_ or @ETHLondon with me should take extra precautions and/or get tested

— Zhen Yu Yong (Zen) (@zenzhenyu) March 11, 2020

Someone who is actively infected with COVID-19 can quickly spread the virus to others. However, it’s worth noting that at the time of this writing, this is the only evidence of a confirmed case from an attendee.

Yong added that according to the doctor’s opinion, the infection “probably came from France.”

Interestingly enough, the European country recently issued a ban on indoor gatherings that exceed 5,000 attendees. The Ethereum Community Conference, though, had fewer; thus, it took place as scheduled.

COVID-19 Delays Blockchain Conferences

Months after the first confirmed cases of the coronavirus outbreak, the effects are undeniable. The negative impact is only accelerating. The global death toll exceeds 4,000, numerous countries report new cases, schools, and universities close doors, and live events get postponed or even canceled.

Some of those events include major blockchain conferences. One of the first ones was TOKEN2049. Initially scheduled to take place from March 16th to the 22nd in Hong Kong, the event was later postponed to October.

The Paris Blockchain Week Summit followed a few weeks later. It moved the original dates (March 30th – April 1st) to December 9th-10th. However, as it is one of the largest blockchain gatherings in the year, it’s unknown if France’s ban won’t entirely cancel it.

The largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, Binance, also postponed its live event. The Binance Blockchain Week was supposed to take place between February 29th to March 4th in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Despite announcing the news over a month ago, Binance still hasn’t noted when exactly it will transpire.