After Google employee tests positive for coronavirus, company asks B'luru staff to work-from-home

Bengaluru: A Google employee in Bengaluru has tested positive for novel coronavirus (COVID-19), and the company on Friday asked staff in that office to work from work as a precautionary measure for the day.

“We can confirm that an employee from our Bengaluru office has been diagnosed with COVID-19. The employee, who had returned from Greece was in one of our Bengaluru offices for a few hours before developing any symptoms,” a Google spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the employee has been on quarantine since then, and the company has asked colleagues who were in close contact with the employee to quarantine themselves and monitor their health.

It has asked employees in that Bengaluru office to work from home on Friday, the spokesperson said. “We have taken and will continue to take all necessary precautionary measures, following the advice of public health officials, as we prioritise everyone’s health and safety.”

Karnataka Health Department officials said on Thursday the 26-year old man — the Google employee –, who had returned from Greece, has tested positive for coronavirus.

The patient who hails from Mumbai has been admitted and isolated at a hospital and his condition is stable, a department media bulletin had said.

“All (his) primary contacts have been traced and are asymptomatic,” it said.

He had travelled from Greece to Mumbai on March 6, and came by flight to Bengaluru on March 8.

He had been to office here on March 9, during which he is said to have spoken to four of his close friends and gone back home within a few hours.

“He was hospitalised the same day. One brother of his is staying with him in Bengaluru..parents and wife are in Mumbai,” sources said.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus positive cases in Karnataka is six, including the Google employee, and the 76-year old man from Kalaburagi who passed away on Tuesday night.