A Google employee in Switzerland has a confirmed case of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on Saturday. According to a report in the NPR, the Google employee was in its Zurich office “for a limited time” before showing COVID-19 symptoms.
“We can confirm that one employee from our Zurich office has been diagnosed with the coronavirus. They were in the Zurich office for a limited time, before they had any symptoms,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.
The spokesperson added, “We have taken – and will continue to take – all necessary precautionary measures, following the advice of public health officials, as we prioritize everyone’s health and safety.”
According to reports, Google has not shut down its Zurich office but is preventing employees from traveling to Italy, Iran, Japan, and South Korea because of outbreaks of the novel coronavirus.
Tech giants like Amazon announced travel restrictions for employees amid growing fears of a pandemic. It halted all non-essential travel, including trips within the US and even has put in-person job interviews on hold indefinitely, according to screenshots shared with Gizmodo.
Amazon spokesperson Drew Herdener said that the company was “supporting the affected employees, who were in Milan and are now in quarantine”, a New York Times report said on Sunday, which confirmed the two cases.
The tech industry has seen a significant impact from the ongoing outbreaks, including store closures across China and production delays. Organizers canceled Mobile World Congress after companies like Amazon, ZTE, and Sony pulled out, and Facebook canceled the in-person portion of its annual F8 developer conference.
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!
