Facebook confirms contractor in Seattle diagnosed with coronavirus

(Reuters) – Facebook Inc on Thursday confirmed that a contractor at a Seattle office has been diagnosed with the coronavirus and the social media giant said it would close that location until March 9.

“A contractor based in our Stadium East office has been diagnosed with the COVID-19,” a spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

Facebook said it has notified employees, adding that workers in all Seattle locations were being encouraged to work from home until the end of the month.

Seattle in Washington state has the largest concentration of coronavirus cases confirmed to date in the United States.

Online retailer Amazon.com Inc on Tuesday reported the first case of the virus among its U.S. employees.

The news of the Facebook contractor being diagnosed with the coronavirus was first reported by Bloomberg.

(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Bernard Orr)