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02nd Mar 2020

Google staff told to work from home due to virus scare

Rudi Kinsella

Google coronavirus

The majority of Google’s 8,000 staff and contractors in Ireland have been told to work from home on Tuesday.

The majority of Google’s 8,000 staff and contractors in Ireland have been told to work from home on Tuesday (3 March) amid fears of a potential coronavirus case.

This comes after a member of staff reported flu-like symptoms.

It is believed to be unlikely that the worker has the international virus, but the company has made the decision to use the opportunity to test its ability to have every staff member work from home.

“We continue to take precautionary measures to protect the health and safety of our workforce, and as part of that effort we have asked our Dublin teams to work from home tomorrow,” a Google spokesperson said to RTÉ.

It isn’t the first Google office around the world to close as a result of the coronavirus situation.

This comes on the same day that Ryanair has notified passengers that it was reducing its short haul flights to and from Italy, from across Europe, by up to 25% for a three week period from Tuesday, 17 March until Wednesday 8 April, in response to coronavirus.

It has been confirmed that a student in Ireland does have the virus.

Public health doctors will actively follow up with all students and teachers on a daily basis over the coming 14 days.

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