The social media giant Facebook has announced on Friday, March 6 that they have decided to close their London office and part of the Singapore base after one of their employees in the Asian city-state was diagnosed with Novel Coronavirus.
A Facebook spokesperson told media that staff at Singapore's Marina One office was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Friday.
Facebook closed offices
The spokesperson from Facebook said that the affected employee of the company visited London's offices between February 24 and 26. After he was tested positive, the US-based tech company decided to shut down the affected areas for deep cleaning and advised employees based in those areas to work from home until Mar 13.
Facebook also closed the London based offices until Monday for deep cleaning. The social media company also asked the UK employees to work from home until Facebook resumes the work at the London offices.
As per the spokesperson, Facebook was getting in touch with individuals who came in contact with the Coronavirus affected employee and had asked them to self-isolate and monitor for any potential symptoms of COVID-19.
It should be mentioned that earlier the social media giant has closed its Shanghai office until further notice. The employees in Italy and South Korea have been asked to work from home. San Francisco Bay area staffs were also encouraged to work from home straight from Friday.
Novel Coronavirus outbreak
The COVID-19 has killed more than 3,000 people all over the world, mostly from China while recently the World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that almost 100,000 people worldwide have contracted the new Coronavirus.
BBC reported that the officials said 49 Italian people has died within one day. It should be noted that now Italy has reported most deaths outside China, from where the virus has emerged in December 2019.
As of Friday, in South Korea 518 new Coronavirus cases were reported, bringing to 6,284 the total number of infections nationwide, reported Yonhap news agency. As per the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 42 people, mostly elderly with underlying illnesses, have died in the country.
While Singapore warned on Friday that deaths in the city-state would become "inevitable" as a global pandemic emerges, as of now the Republic has reported 130 Novel Coronavirus cases.
However, it should be mentioned that a man in his 80s became the second person to die after testing positive for the Coronavirus in UK where the COVID-19 cases have soared to 164.
