Singapore's DBS sends 300 staff home after one contracts coronavirus
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[February 12, 2020]
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's
biggest bank DBS Group Holdings <DBSM.SI> asked 300 staff to leave its
head office in the financial district on Wednesday and work from home as
a precautionary measure after an employee tested positive for
coronavirus.
Singapore has reported 50 coronavirus cases, one of the highest tallies
outside China, and there is mounting evidence of local transmission. The
government has been trying to calm nerves after it raised the virus
alert level last week, sparking panic buying of essentials such as rice
and toilet paper.
"DBS confirms today that one employee has been infected with the novel
coronavirus," it said in a statement. DBS said an employee was tested on
Feb. 11 and the bank was informed of the confirmation of coronavirus on
Wednesday morning.
As of noon, the bank asked all staff on the floor where the infected
person worked at its headquarters at the Marina Bay Financial Center (MBFC)
to vacate the premises.
The bank employs more than 5,000 people at MBFC, where it occupies 18
floors in one tower. Employees at the bank told Reuters that other
floors were unaffected.
"We are also currently conducting detailed contact tracing with all
employees and other parties that the infected employee may have come
into contact with," DBS said.
Long lines formed this week outside some offices in Singapore's
financial district as employers started taking workers' temperatures.
Warnings by building managers of cases in some downtown offices have
been widely shared on social media.
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People enter Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3 where DBS
headquarters is situated in Singapore February 12, 2020.
REUTERS/Edgar Su
Some companies, including DBS, are cancelling physical results
briefings and holding them via webcasts and teleconferences instead.
The government has also cautioned people against shaking hands as a
form of greeting.
The outbreak has revived memories of Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome which killed more than 30 people in Singapore in 2003, and
nearly 800 worldwide.
DBS said it has activated business continuity plans, with employees
working from home or from split sites. It said staff will also
receive a care pack which includes face masks, a thermometer, hand
sanitizer and vitamin C.
(Reporting by Singapore newsroom; Editing by Shri Navaratnam,
Muralikumar Anantharaman and David Clarke)
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