Coronavirus hits Amazon Seattle HQ, 1 employee quarantined

Coronavirus has hit Amazon's headquarters in Seattle and the ecommerce giant has confirmed that an employee has been tested positive for COVID-19 coronavirus.

The employee is based out of the company's "Brazil" (SEA53) building, according to an internal memo sent out to Amazon workers and seen by The Verge.

"They went home feeling unwell on Tuesday, February 25, and haven't returned to Amazon premises since. Amazon has notified employees who have been in close contact with the person," the report said on Wednesday.

"We're supporting the affected employee who is in quarantine," the company said in a statement.

On Monday, Amazon confirmed that two of its employees have been infected with the new coronavirus (COVID-19) in Italy.

Amazon spokesperson Drew Herdener said that the company was "supporting the affected employees, who were in Milan and are now in quarantine".

Amazon has already halted all non-essential travel, including trips within the US. The company also told employees to refrain from scheduling meetings that required flights until at least the end of April.

A Google employee in Switzerland has also been tested positive for COVID-19 last week at its office in Zurich, Switzerland.

Google has not shut down its Zurich office but has restricted employees to travel to Iran, Italy and China and was set to expand the curb to Japan and South Korea.

The Donald Trump administration is mulling to tighten travel restrictions as the coronavirus or COVID-19 outbreak continues to claim more American lives, taking the US death toll to nine and spreading across major urban areas including New York.

More than 3,000 people have been killed and close to 90,000 are reported to be infected so far. IANS