FAQ - Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Each hotel is implementing a range of measures to ensure the highest levels of safety and hygiene during the conference. AMI work closely with all our hotel partners to ensure the event experience is both comfortable and safe for all attendees.

Some of these measures could include;

• Providing a documented health and safety leaflet
• Providing hand sanitiser stations throughout the hotel and event area
• Ensuring compliance with destination covid related requirements
• Providing seated lunches served as a seated menu (or buffets adhering to local requirements)
• Ensuring the hotel have a protocol to follow should someone feel unwell with contact details of all local health facilities able to test for the virus
• Disinfecting the speaker microphone in between speakers
• Disinfecting the microphone that is used during the Q&A in between each question
• Avoiding handshakes and respect the personal space of all other attendees
• Ensuring we wash our hands regularly and thoroughly during networking breaks
• Providing masks

Stay aware of the latest information on COVID-19, available on the WHO website and through your national and local public health authority. The situation can be unpredictable so check regularly for the latest news. Learn more about how to protect yourself at https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public

You can reduce your chances of being infected or spreading COVID-19 by taking some simple precautions:

• Regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water. Wash hands regularly (when you return home, before and while preparing food, before meals, after visiting the toilet, after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing, before and after contact with ill persons, after contact with animals).
• Why? Washing your hands with soap and warm water for 20-30 seconds, ensuring you lather both sides and your thumbs and dry using a clean towel or using alcohol-based hand rub ensuing that the gel is fully dry without using a towel kills viruses that may be on your hands.

• Maintain the minimum distance stipulated by the local authorities between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing.
• Why? When someone coughs or sneezes, they spray small liquid droplets from their nose or mouth which may contain the virus. If you are too close, you can breathe in the droplets, including the COVID-19 virus if the person coughing has the disease.

• Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth.
  
  • Why? Hands touch many surfaces and can pick up viruses. Once contaminated, hands can transfer the virus to your eyes, nose or mouth. From there, the virus can enter your body and can make you sick.

• Make sure you, and the people around you, follow good respiratory hygiene. This means covering your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Then dispose of the used tissue immediately. Also cover wounds with a plaster or bandage.
  
  • Why? Droplets spread virus. By following good respiratory hygiene, you protect the people around you from viruses such as cold, flu and COVID-19.

• Stay home if you feel unwell. If you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical attention and call in advance. Follow the directions of your local health authority.
  
  • Why? National and local authorities will have the most up to date information on the situation in your area. Calling in advance will allow your health care provider to quickly direct you to the right health facility. This will also protect you and help prevent spread of viruses and other infections.

• Keep up to date on the latest COVID-19 hotspots (cities or local areas where COVID-19 is spreading widely). If possible, avoid travelling to places – especially if you are an older person or have diabetes, heart or lung disease.
• Why? You have a higher chance of catching COVID-19 in one of these areas.

If anyone feels any of the symptoms come on during the conference, or feels unwell in any way, they need to seek medical advice straight away from the hotel reception. The hotel will be able to provide details of the nearest medical centres.

While the degree of contact that any delegate may have had with the potential case is unlikely to have been significant, we would take the precautionary step of announcing it to all delegates and recommending that delegates take precautionary steps recommended by the World Health Organisation, which can be found here: https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses 

Report persons suffering from acute breathing difficulties to an event organiser and dial the emergency services number. Try to state – if known – whether the person concerned spent time in a risk region over the past two weeks or was in contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19.

Require the concerned person to sit down and avoid direct physical contact. Try to keep a 1.5 m distance. Wait for emergency services to arrive – they will take over further care provision.

AMI is continuously monitoring the situation. We will endeavour to give you as much notice as possible when making any changes to the event you are booked on.

This is a requirement of the country and not of AMI.