Test and space: Barcelona telecoms bash lifts ‘hybrid’ trade fair hopes

BARCELONA: Its biggest act may have been beamed in on a screen, but a smaller, quieter ‘hybrid’ Mobile World Congress (MWC) has given others hope that in-person events can succeed in a pandemic.

For those who did make it to Barcelona, there were no boozy parties, with far fewer such gatherings than in previous years and the only alcohol on offer reserved for hand sanitising.

The must-haves at this week’s MWC were a negative COVID-19 test, an FFP2 face mask and a digital contact-tracing badge for the 30,000 or so who filed through its testing stations and followed a one-way traffic system to reduce infection risk.