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Amazon and Google employees’ under travel restriction amid coronavirus fears

A Google employee in Switzerland was tested positive with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Amazon and Google employees’ under travel restriction amid coronavirus fears

Googleplex - Google Headquarters in Calif. (Photo: iStock)

Tech giants like Google and Amazon are taking precautionary measures in the wake of the novel coronavirus. Google is preventing employees from traveling to Italy, Iran, Japan, and South Korea because of outbreaks of the novel coronavirus, as per reports. Amazon is asking employees to defer all nonessential travel, which includes domestic travel within the US, the Verge reported.

“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.

“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,” the spokesperson added.

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Both companies had already halted employee travel to China, and Google temporarily closed down its offices in China at the end of January.

Google has also cancelled it’s Global News Initiative’ summit in northern California in April while Facebook has also called off its flagship F8 developer conference in May.

On Friday, the World Health Organization said that the risk of global impact from the virus was “very high” as the coronavirus reached 57 countries.

The death toll due to the outbreak in China has risen to 2,835, health authorities said on Saturday, while the number of confirmed cases increased to 79,251.

(With input from agencies)

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