Twitter requires all employees work from home

Twitter is asking all company employees globally to work from home amid the coronavirus outbreak, the company announced Wednesday. 

“We understand this is an unprecedented step, but these are unprecedented times,” Twitter said in its announcement. 

The social media giant said the safety of its employees remains its top priority, as well as supporting vulnerable communities and healthcare providers on the frontlines of the outbreak. 

Twitter had issued a statement last week “strongly encouraging” its employees to work from home.

Today we informed all Twitter employees globally they must work from home to support worldwide efforts to stop the spread of #COVID19. This moves beyond our earlier guidance of “strongly encouraging work from home.” https://t.co/xQ6Xa4BHg0

— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) March 12, 2020

Twitter is also continuing to pay its contractors and vendors who are unable to perform their responsibilities from home hourly wages. Employees will also receive reimbursements toward expenses for setting up home offices and reimbursements for additional daycare expenses incurred, the company said. 

More than 126,000 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed globally, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.