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Gulf Today Report

The novel coronavirus has killed more than 5000 people, and there are about 138,432 confirmed cases worldwide across in at least 81 countries.

Amazon earlier this week said it would give two weeks of extra paid time off for full and part-time employees who are diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed in quarantine.

The world recommending their staff to work from home if their roles allow in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a guidance issued by the online retail giant on Thursday, all employees of the company, irrespective of their location, can work from home if they can through to the end of this month.

"We continue to work closely with public and private medical experts to ensure we are taking the right precautions as the situation continues to evolve," Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.

"As a result, we are now recommending that all of our employees globally who are able to work from home do so through the end of March."

The decision was taken with the aim of enabling greater social distancing and reduce the impact on public transportation, according to Amazon.

Major companies like Microsoft, Hitachi and Chevron are asking their workers to work remotely as a measure against the rapidly-spreading disease.

Similarly, major companies like Oracle, Apple, Facebook, Nestlé with Twitter even making work from home mandatory for all its employees around the world are restricting all non-essential business travel to keep the virus from spreading.

The novel coronavirus has spread globally, affecting more than 127,000 people and killing over 4,700.