Facebook shuts Singapore and London offices after employee tests positive

Facebook said on 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 said.

"We have immediately closed the affected areas for deep cleaning and advised employees based in the affected area to work from home until March 13," he said in an emailed statement.

The infected employee had also visited Facebook's London offices between Feb 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 globally, while more than 3,400 people have died.

Singapore reported 13 new cases of the virus on Friday making it the city state's largest one-day jump since the nine cases reported on Feb 14.

This brought the total number of cases in Singapore to 130. Of these, 82 have fully recovered while nine are seriously ill in the intensive care unit.

Britain, meanwhile, confirmed its second coronavirus-related death on Friday. The patient was being treated at Milton Keynes University Hospital and had underlying health conditions, Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said in a statement.

A total of 163 people have currently tested positive for the virus in Britain, health authorities said on Friday.

For the latest updates on the coronavirus, visit here.