Google has announced that it will temporarily shut down its offices in China as the coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak intensifies in the country.
Google said it has four offices in China that focus on sales and engineering for its ad business, and is keeping employees updated on the situation.
According to the tech giant, the offices located in mainland China, Hongkong and Taiwan will remain closed even after the Chinese Lunar year holiday elapse based on the Chinese government directive.
It added that the company has placed temporary travel restrictions for its employees and urged employees who recently traveled out of China to work from home at least 14 days for safety purpose before going to public places.
The company stated further that it has given $250,000 grant to Chinese Red Cross, as well launched an internal campaign of $500,00 as part of its effort to support China.
So far, there have been over 6,000 confirmed corona virus cases and more than 130 reported death cases as a result of the virus which was first diagnosed in Wuhan province of China in December 2019.