Coronavirus: Twitter asks staff to 'work from home'

ANKARA

U.S. tech giant Twitter has urged its employees to work from home to protect their "health and safety" amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak.

"Beginning today, we are strongly encouraging all employees globally to work from home if they’re able," the company said in a blog post late Monday.

"Our goal is to lower the probability of the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus for us - and the world around us. We are operating out of an abundance of caution and the utmost dedication to keeping our Tweeps healthy."

The social networking service said that it was working to "make sure internal meetings, all hands, and other important tasks are optimized for remote participation."

Its premises, however, will remain open for some job functions that are not ideal for working from home or for those who prefer to come into the offices.

The company, meanwhile, made homeworking mandatory for staffers in Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea "due to government restrictions."

Other leading technology companies, including Facebook and Google, have postponed or cancelled conferences in the U.S.

The announcement comes as deaths due to the virus around the world have passed 3,000 with more than 88,000 infected. The outbreak has spread from Asia to the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.

The World Health Organization, which declared the outbreak an international health emergency, has raised the global risk assessment to "very high."