Facebook Shuts London, Singapore Offices after Coronavirus Case

Facebook said Friday it was shutting down its London office and part of its Singapore base for "deep cleaning" following a coronavirus diagnosis of an employee in the Asian city-state.

A member of staff working at the Marina One branch of the US technology company in Singapore was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Friday, a spokesperson told media.

“We have immediately closed the affected areas for deep cleaning and advised employees based in the affected area to work from home until 13 March,” he said in an emailed statement.

The infected employee had also visited Facebook’s London offices between February 24 and 26.

“We are therefore closing our London offices until Monday for deep cleaning and employees are working from home until then,” the spokesman said.

The organization said it was getting in touch with those who had direct contact with the infected person and had advised them to protect themselves and watch for any possible symptoms.

Facebook has already shut down its office in Shanghai until further notice, although workers in Italy and South Korea were encouraged to work from home.

In addition, staff in the San Francisco Bay area have been “strongly recommended” to work from home starting from Friday.

According to an AFP list, Coronavirus has infected more than 100,000 people worldwide across 91 countries while more than 3,400 people have died.

A total of 163 people have currently tested positive for the virus in Britain, and two people have died, health authorities said Friday.

Source: AFP