On behalf of the EHRA Executive Board and the Congress Chairs Profs. Haran Burri and Katja Zeppenfeld,
Hein Heidbuchel (EHRA President 2018-2020)
Dear Industry Partners,
I am very sad to inform you that EHRA 2020, the scientific congress of the European Heart Rhythm Association scheduled for Vienna later this month, will not proceed as planned.
The ESC and EHRA leadership have been following closely the recent developments around COVID-19. It is clear that severe measures must be prepared, and that physicians and hospitals need to ready themselves to deal with the epidemic. As a result, over the past few days, more than a third of our congress faculty have had to cancel their participation – a number which continues to rise.
Having discussed the situation with our partners who share the opinion that, under the current circumstances, cancelling EHRA 2020 is the only responsible course of action.
We are now discussing how we will move forward: whether there is an option for delivering some of the planned content via webinars or other online formats; and for dealing with refunds. We will keep you updated as information becomes available.
Hein Heidbuchel
EHRA President 2018-2020