Apple Temporarily Closes Retail Stores Worldwide

Smartphone giant Apple has temporarily shut all its retail outlets worldwide in a bid to combat the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Apple will keep the stores closed for two weeks, to re-open on 27th March.

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, announced that the firm has reopened all their China-based stores. They had closed the China locations earlier in February during the peak of the virus outbreak in the country.

Apple will solely operate their online stores, which are supported by a fully remote workforce.

Cook tweeted, “In our workplaces and communities, we must do all we can to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Apple will be temporarily closing all stores outside of Greater China until 27 March and committing $15M (£12.25m) to help with worldwide recovery.”

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A company statement read, “As rates of new infections continue to grow in other places, we’re taking additional steps to protect our team members and customers.

“In all of our offices, we are moving to flexible work arrangements worldwide outside of Greater China. That means team members should work remotely if their job allows, and those whose work requires them to be on site should follow guidance to maximise interpersonal space.

“Extensive deep cleaning will continue at all sites. In all our offices, we are rolling out new health screenings and temperature checks. All of our hourly workers will continue to receive pay in alignment with business-as-usual operations.

“We have expanded our leave policies to accommodate personal or family health circumstances created by Covid-19 – including recovering from an illness, caring for a sick loved one, mandatory quarantining, or childcare challenges due to school closures.”