Google Employee in Bengaluru Tests Positive for Coronavirus

A Google employee at the company’s Bengaluru office has been tested positive for the novel coronavirus and the company has told all its employees to work from home.

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. They were both found to test positive on their return from the U.S. “We can confirm that an employee from our Bangalore office has been diagnosed with COVID-19. They were in one of our Bangalore offices for a few hours before developing any symptoms,” a Google 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. Most tech giants including Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) are offering employees the option to work from home to prevent the spread of the virus.

India witnessed its first coronavirus death when Karnataka Health Minister B. Sriramulu on Thursday confirmed that a 76-year-old man from Kalaburgi in the state’s northern region died of COVID-19. The Union Health Ministry has confirmed 76 coronavirus cases so far.