Silicon Valley shut down by coronavirus as Apple tells 12,000 staff to stay at home after Google and Microsoft warning
APPLE has urged Silicon Valley staff to work from home as the death toll from coronavirus continues to climb.
The plea to its 12,000 workers follows similar requests from Google, Microsoft and Amazon - to avoid close contact among employees.
An Apple spokesman said workers at its Silicon Valley headquarters had been asked to work from home as a "precaution".
The vast Apple Park campus is located in Santa Clara County, where there were 20 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the county as of March 5, health bosses said.
Officials in the county had previously asked large companies to encourage employees to telecommute or find other ways of limiting close contact to decrease the risk of the bug's spread.
Apple is also asking workers in the Seattle area to work from home as Washington State is gripped by the virus - which has so far claimed 17 lives in the US.
In California, Apple's Santa Clara County retail stores remain open, a spokesman added.
Apple last month said the spread of the virus in China would cause it to miss revenue targets for the quarter ending in March and cause iPhone shortages.
'BE CALM': TRUMP
The tech giants' action comes as Donald Trump insisted the coronavirus will "go away", downplaying concerns as fears grow over a test shortage.
Trump's comments came amid spiralling infections in the US, as numbers climbed near 250 and the government struggled to meet demand for tests.
“Be calm. It will go away," the President told reporters at the White House Friday.
“We have very low numbers compared to major countries throughout the world.
"Our numbers are lower than just about anybody," Trump said about cases of the
"It's an unforeseen problem," he added.
“It came out of nowhere. We're taking care of it.”
Trump earlier signed a bill that gave $8.3 billion in funding to respond to the coronavirus.
It was also announced that all staff and residents at the Life Care center nursing home — where the outbreak seems to have stemmed from — will be tested for the virus.
Amid a panic of the coronavirus spread becoming an epidemic in Seattle, the city has gone into a self-quarantine, as .
Businesses, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft told employees to work from home and schools closed and transitioned to online programs as the city goes into panic mode.
Cases worldwide have topped 100,000, with more than 3,400 deaths globally.
The US holds the 10th-highest place for total cases out of all countries.
Although officials originally aimed to have 1 million coronavirus tests by the end of the week, Vice President Mike Pence said yesterday the
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"We don’t have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward,” Pence told reporters after meeting with a coronavirus task force and 3M executives in Minnesota, reported.
“For those that we believe have been exposed, for those who are showing symptoms, we’ve been able to provide the testing.
Pence said "roughly a million and a half tests" were being sent out, and that so far, health officials had enough tests for those that had symptoms.
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