Karnataka’s 5th corona positive case is Google employee
Bengaluru, March 13 (IANS) The fifth coronavirus positive case in Karnataka has emerged to be a 26-year-old Google employee, the company confirmed on Friday.
“We can confirm that an employee from our Bangalore (Bengaluru) office has been diagnosed with COVID-19. They were in one of our Bangalore offices for a few hours before developing any symptoms,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
The employee has been in quarantine since then, and Google has asked colleagues who were in close contact with the employee to quarantine themselves and monitor their health.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we are asking employees in that Bengaluru office to work from home tomorrow (Friday),” said Google.
According to an internal email circulating on social media, the Google employee contracted the virus after travelling overseas (Greece) and attended the company’s RMZ office on Monday.
When he returned from Greece, he did not immediately exhibit any coronavirus symptoms but successfully passed through the thermal screening at the airport which checks for fever in passengers.
But on Monday, after a few hours in office, he felt unwell and decided to return home.
The employee was confirmed as being infected by COVID-19 on Thursday.
The company is in touch with the employee and is offering support.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we are asking that all those based in our RMZ office leave for home as soon as they are able and also work from home tomorrow (Saturday) while we conduct further sanitation,” said Google’s internal email to employees.
Google also requested its employees not to visit the RMZ office over the weekend.
“We will be stopping food service, and no meals will be served at the RMZ office starting tonight, and over the weekend,” said the email.
Google will update the employees about operations at the RMZ office by Sunday.
Late on Thursday night, Karnataka Health Minister B. Sriramulu confirmed that a 76-year-old man from Kalaburgi in the state’s northern region died of coronavirus.
When asked by IANS, real estate major RMZ, in whose property the Google office is located in Bengaluru, did not immediately reveal the safety measures taken or the response it is planning in the light of the positive coronavirus case.
After Dell India and Mindtree, this is the third case where an employee of a tech giant has been diagnosed with coronavirus in the country.
Earlier, one employee from software major Mindtree and Dell India each tested positive after returning from the US.
–IANS
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