Panic gripped big tech firms like Facebook and Twitter whichdecided to close their offices from Seattle to London as more employees testedpositive for the new coronavirus.
Facebook shut its three London offices till Monday after anemployee was diagnosed with COVID-19.
The social networking giant told nearly 3,000 employees hereto work from home after an employee, who is based in Singapore but visited theLondon offices between February 24-26, was diagnosed with the new coronavirus,Sky News reported on Friday.
“An employee based in our Singapore office who has beendiagnosed with COVID-19 visited our London offices on February 24-26.
“We are therefore closing our London offices untilMonday for deep cleaning and employees are working from home until then,”the company said in a statement.
There have been 163 cases of coronavirus so far in the UK.
Earlier, Facebook recommended all its Bay Area employees inthe US to work from home. The latest precautions come after San Franciscoannounced its first two coronavirus cases on Thursday.
Facebook has also shut its Seattle office until Monday afterone of its contractors was confirmed to be infected with the virus. Theinfected contractor last visited the Facebook office on February 21. KingCounty health officials said all Facebook sites should work from home untilMarch 31.
Twitter shut its Seattle office for a ‘deep clean’ after anemployee developed COVID-19 like symptoms though final result was stillawaited.
“A Seattle-based employee has been advised by doctorabout likely COVID-19, though still awaiting the final testing,” Twittersaid in a tweet on Friday.
“While the employee has not been at a Twitter officefor several weeks and hasn’t been in contact w/others, we’re closing ourSeattle office to deep clean,” the company added.
According to The Seattle Times, at least 14 people have dieddue to COVID-19 in Washington State till date.
Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Facebook have advised theiremployees in Washington State to work from home.
Apple has reportedly suggested its employees at Californiacampuses to work from home as an “extra precaution” while newcoronavirus cases spread on the west coast in the US, especially Seattle area.
Apple’s flagship developers’ conference WWDC 2020 in June isalso at the risk of getting cancelled as the Santa Clara public healthdepartment has warned against large public gatherings. The event draws nearly5,000 developers from across the world.The US death toll from the new coronavirus hasclimbed to 14, according to Johns Hopkins’ tracker, with 329 cases reportedacross the country.