The Dark Business Side of China’s Coronavirus

Thursday 30th of January 2020

The Dark Business Side of China’s Coronavirus

As a result of the coronavirus outbreak, Google is temporarily closing all of its offices in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Amazon and Microsoft are among other tech giants that have taken action to protect staff from infection.

Google said it is stopping staff travelling to China and Hong Kong, while employees currently in the country have been advised to leave as soon as possible and then work from home for a minimum of two weeks.

While Facebook became the first major US firm to tell staff to avoid travelling to China, General Motors has become the latest big car maker to announce that it is extending its Lunar New Year holiday manufacturing plant closures.

On Wednesday, Toyota also announced that its production plants in China will stay closed until 9th February. Several other international car companies operating in Wuhan, which is at the epicentre of the outbreak, have previously said they were taking action to bring staff back to their home countries.