Microsoft Corp is the latest company to join the bandwagon of on-person boycott of Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, to be held early January, owing to the spreading Omicron COVID-19 variant.

The US software giant added that it will continue to participate at CES remotely, according to an emailed statement. According to a Reuters dispatch, The Vergewas the first to report on Friday that Microsoft will not participate physically at CES.

Several other companies including US automaker General Motors Co., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and its self-driving auto-technology company Waymo, Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc., Twitter Inc., Lenovo Group, AT&T Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. dropped in-person attendance plans earlier last week.

CES officials, however, maintained last week the event will still be held in person January 5-8 with “strong safety measures in place”, which include vaccination requirements, masking and availability of COVID-19 tests.

A Google spokesperson said in a statement: “After careful consideration we have decided to withhold from having a presence on the show floor of CES 2022,” adding that Google would continue to “identify and support virtual opportunities.”

Waymo said in a blog post that it hopes to participate virtually, if possible, at the Las Vegas event, which traditionally has drawn over 180,000 people from around the world to discuss emerging technologies and party through the night with business contacts.

ByteDance-owned TikTok said it would hold a virtual event for partners and advertisers. Intel Corp has said it would minimize staffing at CES.

“The health and safety of our employees, partners and customers  is  always a top priority,” the chipmaker said, “Our plans for CES will move to a digital-first, live experience, with minimal on-site staff.”