Apple announced its steps in facing the coronavirus outbreak which included closing its retail stores

Photo by Hussam Abd on Unsplash

Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote took to their official website to release a statement, he talked about the impact the outbreak has had on Apple and how they're facing this "challenge." Apple was widely affected by the outbreak of coronavirus more than any other tech company, its production was halted starting in February and yet not recovered fully.

They've canceled their March event in which they're supposed to reveal the new iPhone SE 2, now to further combat the virus they've chosen to close all their retail stores excluding the one's in Greater China which were only opened recently after being closed since February, Apple will keep their retail stores closed till March 27th.

In addition to closing its retail stores, Apple has also taken other precautionary methods to stop the spread of this pandemic, Apple has let their employees work from home if possible, otherwise, they need to follow the guidelines to "maximize the interpersonal space," also, Apple offices will be deeply cleaned and will have health screenings and temperature checks.

Apple will continue the normal pay for its hourly workers and have extended its leave policies to facilitate the employees' "personal or family health circumstances."  Apple has introduced a new section on it's Apple news service where users can get the latest updates of the Covid-19 only from the trusted sources.

Apple has already announced that they're going to have their annual WWDC event on online to prevent the spread, as the event will be visited by several developers and tech personalities, Apple announced that their donations to battle the outbreak have reached $15 million, and they're continuing them by adding two-to-one to their employee donations.