- As of Thursday, there are over 80,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, the majority of which is in China.
- The COVID-19 virus has spread to other parts of Asia and Europe as well. There are currently 60 confirmed cases of it in the US, including the people who were stranded on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.
- To safeguard employees from the outbreak, companies in Europe and Asia have started asking their employees to work from home as a precautionary measure.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
The novel coronavirus has killed almost 2,800 people in China, as of Thursday, and there are over 81,000 confirmed cases worldwide across 40 countries, with 60 confirmed cases in the US.
As the COVID-19 virus spreads across other parts of Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, major companies like Microsoft, Hitachi and Chevron are asking their workers to work remotely as a measure against the rapidly-spreading disease.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
OMD, a media agency, temporarily closed its London office and asked everyone to work from home after an employee, who had recently had a connecting flight in Singapore, reported flu-like symptoms.
A Chevron office, also in London, asked its several hundred employees to work from home after an employee was tested for coronavirus. "Our primary concern is the health and safety of our employees and we are taking precautionary measures to reduce their risk of exposure," the company said in a statement shared with Fortune.
Source: Fortune
Crossrail, a new company working on a new public transport system, located in the same building as OMD and Chevron in London, also asked employees to work from home.
Source: BBC
Over in Tokyo, a Japanese cosmetic company called Shiseido told 8,000 employees to work from home because of growing concerns over the outbreak.
Source: Nikkei Asian Review
Dentsu, a prominent Japanese advertising agency, told all of its employees in the Tokyo headquarters to work from home after one employee tested positive for the virus.
Source: Nikkei Asian Review, Reuters
NTT, a Japanese system integration company, encouraged 200,000 employees to work from home to keep the virus from spreading.
Source: Nikkei Asian Review
Japanese conglomerate Hitachi also allowed employees to work from home. The company had recently reported a fall in sales by 33% between April 2019 to December 2019 and the CFO said the outbreak "made it even more difficult" for global sales.
Source: Japan Times, FT
Over in China, about 60% of employees at Beijing Chuckong Technology, a game developing company, are currently working from home because of the outbreak.
Source: The Globe and Mail
DDD Online is an augmented reality company in China where employees are currently working from home.
Source: The Globe and Mail
Tuputech, an image recognition company, also has its employees working remotely. Li Mingqiang, the chief executive told Globe and Mail that the "impact is huge" and that efficiency is down by 30% for hardware developers and designers.
Source: The Globe and Mail
Tencent, a Chinese video game company, has asked its staff in Mainland China to work from home.
Source: CNN
Microsoft's team in mainland China is also currently working from home because of the outbreak. The Hong Kong team continues to come into the office.
Source: CNN
Over in Singapore, an enterprise software company called Industrial and Financial Systems advised all of its employees to work from home indefinitely because of the virus.
Source: Business Insider