Media giants implement coronavirus restrictions

E-Commerce giant Amazon published a warning message where it advised all of its employees not to come to the offices due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The company sent a message where it advised employees in all offices around the world to work from home. Employees were asked not to come to the offices unless it is compulsory.

“We continue to work closely with public and private medical experts to ensure we are taking the right precautions as the situation continues to evolve,” an Amazon spokesperson said in an email statement. “As a result, we are now recommending that all of our employees globally who are able to work from home do so through the end of March.”

Amazon employs some 798,000 employees.

Twitter also implemented coronavirus restrictions and asked its employees to stay home and work from there. The company announced on Thursday that it has canceled all business travels and meetings and also advised 5,000 employees to work from home to prevent the spread of the virus.

“The reason we made this decision is to reduce the chances of COVID-19 spreading in our offices,” the human resources director of Twitter Jennifer Christie said.

Internet and technology companies such as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google have recommended staff from their offices around the world to work from home due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but Twitter was the first company among the Silicon Valley giants who forced all employees to work from home.

After emerging in Wuhan, China last December, the novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, has spread to at least 114 countries.

The global death toll is now over 4,600, with more than 125,000 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which has declared the outbreak a pandemic.