The World Economic Forum in Singapore set to take place in August 2021 has been cancelled.

News of the cancellation has already made it to Twitter.

A tweet by Reuters Southeast Asia editor said:

The World Economic Forum meeting planned for Singapore has been cancelled given uncertainty over COVID-19 variants, travel, vaccines

The World Economic Forum meeting planned for Singapore has been cancelled given uncertainty over COVID-19 variants, travel, vaccines

— Matthew Tostevin (@TostevinM) May 17, 2021

The special annual meeting was scheduled to take place three months from now.

A statement on the WEF website said:

Regretfully, the tragic circumstances unfolding across geographies, an uncertain travel outlook, differing speeds of vaccination rollout and the uncertainty around new variants combine to make it impossible to realise a global meeting with business, government and civil society leaders from all over the world at the scale which was planned. This is despite the excellent support provided by the Government of Singapore.

The statement also said the next annual meeting will instead take place in the first half of 2022.

The final location and date has not been determined but will be based on an assessment of the situation later this year.

“It was a difficult decision, particularly in view of the great interest of our partners to come together not just virtually but in person, and to contribute to a more resilient, more inclusive and more sustainable world,” said Klaus Schwab, WEF founder and executive chairman.

“But ultimately the health and safety of everyone concerned is our highest priority.”

It was only reported on May 12 a few days ago that the WEF planned to go ahead with its annual meeting in Singapore despite a jump in coronavirus cases that prompted the Asian city-state to reimpose restrictions and tighten border controls.