Twitter staff across the world were asked to work from home
starting Monday in an effort to stop the spread of the deadly new
coronavirus epidemic.
At the same time, thousands of
staff at Google's European headquarters in Ireland were told to stay
away for the day after one employee reported flu-like symptoms.
The
outbreak has spread across the world since emerging in central China
late last year, killing more than 3,100 people, infecting over 90,000,
and prompting a wave of travel restrictions.
Twitter's decision to ask its staff to avoid the office follows similar requests by governments in virus hotspots.
"We
are strongly encouraging all employees globally to work from home if
they're able," Twitter human resources chief Jennifer Christie said in a
Monday blog post.
"Our goal is to lower the probability of the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus for us -- and the world around us."
Working from home will be mandatory for employees at the company's South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan offices, Christie said.
South
Korea has recorded nearly 5,000 confirmed Covid-19 infections -- the
largest number outside mainland China -- along with 28 deaths. More than
half of the cases have been linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a
secretive religious group often described as a cult.
Japan's government has urged the closure of schools nationwide and employers to give their staff permission to work remotely.
Most
civil servants in Hong Kong returned to work on Monday after they were
asked to work from home for a month. The financial hub has recorded 100
cases of the infection.
Twitter had already announced the suspension of "non-critical" business travel and events last week.
Google has some 8,000 staff and contractors in the Irish capital.
"We
continue to take precautionary measures to protect the health and
safety of our workforce," a spokesperson said in a statement.
"In
accordance with the advice of medical experts, and as part of that
effort, we have asked our Dublin teams to work from home today."
Ireland has one confirmed case of Covid-19 -- a man who returned from northern Italy.
Google
staff who have been in contact with their colleague with the flu-like
symptoms have been told to monitor their health, while the company is
using the situation to help test the company's readiness to deal with
any outbreak.
No comments:
Post a Comment