The World Trade Organization (WTO) announced on early Saturday morning the postponement of its 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) due to the surge of new COVID-19 variant in various countries. An outbreak of a particularly transmissible strain of the COVID-19 virus has led several governments to impose travel restrictions that would have prevented many ministers from reaching Geneva, the organization said. The MC12 was due to take place from Tuesday to Friday in Geneva. No date has been set for the rescheduling of the conference. The World Health Organization (WHO) classified on Friday the latest variant B.1.1.529 of SARS-CoV-2, which was first reported from South Africa, as a “Variant of Concern,” and asked countries to enhance surveillance and sequencing efforts. “Given these unfortunate developments and the uncertainty that they cause, we see no alternative but to propose to postpone the Ministerial Conference and reconvene it as soon as possible when conditions allow,” said the chair of the WTO General Council, Dacio Castillo.