LONDON, March 7, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Facebook said Friday it was shutting its
London office and part of its Singapore base for “deep cleaning” after an
employee in the Asian city state was diagnosed with coronavirus.
A staff member working at the US technology giant’s Marina One office in
Singapore was on Friday diagnosed with COVID-19, a spokesman told AFP.
“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 company said it was getting in touch with individuals who had direct
contact with the person infected, and had asked them to self-isolate and
monitor for any potential symptoms.
Facebook has already closed its Shanghai office until further notice, while
employees in Italy and South Korea have been 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.
Coronavirus has infected more than 100,000 people across 91 countries
globally, according to an AFP tally, 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.