Since the novel pneumonia virus (officially called COVID-19) started in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, the whole world faces a serious devastation that has never been experienced since World War II. To control the pandemic, many countries and areas close their borders, schools or ask their residents to “shelter in place”. Up to now more than 632,000 people have died from COVID-19. Most of Asian, European and American countries are still in the critical time of lockdown. Unfortunately, the second wave of outbreaks has been reported in many countries, causing a continual disaster. We still do not see the extinction sign of the virus problem yet.
Since most of international flights have been cancelled and strict quarantine isolation has been deployed by most countries, we feel that having an annual meeting this year is very difficult. After a serious discussion, the local committee determines to postpone the 16th International Symposium on Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology until October 19-21, 2021.
In Taiwan, we are all safe since we did not have any local infection for two and a half months already. Our daily activities are not affected and all schools are running normally. We believe that all good will be prevailed for a successful meeting next year.
Please take good care and stay healthy. Best wishes.
Local Organizing Committee
Chairperson
| Shyi-Dong Yeh, Ph.D. Vice President of the ISBAB Academician of Academia Sinica, Taiwan Chair-Professor of the NCHU, Taichung, Taiwan | Chang-Hsien Yang, Ph.D. President of the ISBAB Vice President of the NCHU, Taichung, Taiwan |