Coronavirus: Chevron tells Canary Wharf staff to work remotely
Chevron has told 300 UK staff to work from home over fears a British employee in its Canary Wharf office may have contracted the coronavirus.
Traders, as well as exploration and refining staff, must all work remotely until Chevron gets the test results on the affected member of staff, a source told Reuters.
“Chevron continues to monitor the situation very closely, utilizing the guidance of international and local health authorities,” a Chevron spokeswoman said.
“Our primary concern is the health and safety of our employees and we are taking precautionary measures to reduce their risk of exposure. It is our policy to not provide details of our employees.”
Chevron’s Westferry Circus office houses hundreds of Chevron employees like commodity traders, lawyers and shipping experts.
The alert comes amid a string of company warnings over the coronavirus outbreak. The number of cases outside mainland China jumped this week. South Korea saw a 115-case spike in diagnoses.
The coronavirus outbreak has seen Chinese businesses shut up shop amid widespread supply chain disruption. Meanwhile, South Korea and Hong Kong are among the places to have imposed tight travel restrictions on citizens in a bid to curb the spread of the virus.
However, Chevron is the first reported company to have told British employees not to travel.