Facebook shuts its London office after a member of staff with coronavirus visited from Singapore
- The social network confirmed it had told staff to work from home as a result
- Comes after S&P Global Platts sent home after visitor was diagnosed with virus
- Fund boss Greg Coffey told Knightsbridge staff to get taxis instead of tube
- Financial Conduct Authority said companies need to have plans in place
Facebook has shut its London offices after a member of staff was diagnosed with coronavirus.
The social network confirmed it had told staff to work from home today after the employee tested positive for Covid-19.
The company said the employee was normally based in Singapore but had visited the company’s offices in Fitzrovia, central London for several days last month.
A spokesman for the social network said: ‘An employee based in our Singapore office who has been diagnosed with Covid-19 visited our London offices 24-26 February 2020.
‘We are therefore closing our London offices until Monday for deep cleaning and employees are working from home until then.’
The company said the employee was normally based in Singapore but had visited the company’s offices in Fitzrovia, central London (pictured) for several days last month
There are now 90 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Britain, after three more were confirmed in Scotland this morning
It comes as staff members across London’s financial district have been sent home as the coronavirus continues to rock the industry with one company banning its workers from using the tube to get into the office.
Over 1,200 staff members at US group S&P Global Platts were sent home yesterday afternoon after it was discovered a visitor to the Canary Wharf site had been diagnosed with Covid-19.
It comes as HSBC also told 100 staff members not to come in after one of its workers tested positively for the disease.
With many finance workers based in Canary Wharf, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has now said that all companies need to have contingency plans in place.
Over 1,200 staff members at US group S&P Global Platts (office building, left) were sent home, as were staff members from the 10th floor of HSBC (right)
Greg Coffey (pictured above) is alleged to have told staff members at his Knightsbridge office to get a taxi to work
According to the Telegraph, hedge fund manager Greg Coffey also told workers he would pay for their taxis to and from the office in a bid to stop them catching the virus.
Mr Coffrey, formerly dubbed the ‘Wizard of Oz’ from his days at the hedge fund GLG Partners reportedly told staff at his Kirkoswald Capital firm to not take the tube to the office in Knightsbridge and to instead get taxis into work.
S&P employees in Canary Wharf were told yesterday to work from home until further notice.
In a company statement a spokesperson said: ‘Platts has a robust business continuity plan to ensure there are no disruptions to our MOC (market-on-close) price assessment process and the essential commodity market intelligence our customers rely on across news and analytics’.
The site is home to 1,200 employees, and the 20 Canada Square address is also shared with the trading operation of oil and gas giant BP.
A spokesperson said they were monitoring the situation and it is believed that staff are still today working in the office building.
Yesterday HSBC evacuated part of its Canary Wharf HQ after a worker tested positive for the virus.
The firm cleared the 10th floor for cleaning and advised staff not to come to work after an employee self-isolated after contracting the disease.
The remaining floors of its Canada Square office building remained open.
JP Morgan also said it would be sending some of its London staff to back up sites.
JP Morgan has offices Canary Wharf as well as a base in Blackfriars, where the firm’s asset management arm is based.
Britain has so far registered 116 cases and reported its first death from the coronavirus on Thursday.
MailOnline has contacted Kirkoswald Capital.