Thousands descend on Barcelona for reboot of MWC mobile tech show

FILE PHOTO: A worker walks past a sign ahead of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) at Fira de Barcelona, in Barcelona, Spain June 25, 2021. REUTERS/Albert Gea

BARCELONA (Reuters) - The great and good of the mobile communications world have flocked to their annual jamboree in Barcelona, all armed with this year's must-have tech: a negative COVID-19 test, an FFP2 face mask and a digital badge for contact-tracing.

Over 30,000 visitors from 143 countries are set to stream into the Catalan city for the three-day Mobile World Congress, or MWC, which starts on Monday - and each will have to pass through a mammoth testing area complete with 80 booths.