Apple has announced the closure of all its retail stores outside of Greater China until 27th March, because of coronavirus pandemic. The company also announced that it has donated $15 million to the global COVID-19 response, and is matching employee donations two-to-one.
In a statement posted by Tim Cook on Apple's website, the company announced its response to COVID-19 spread across the globe. Tim acknowledged the improving situation in China with regards to the reduced rate of infections, and announced that stores will be open starting today. He also shared that the supply chain has been restored, which means that we might see products and accessories back in stocks soon.
For places outside of China, stores will be closed until 27 March, to ensure safety for Apple employees and customers. Despite retail store closure, customers will still be able to order products from Apple's online stores. For support, customers can use Apple's support website.
We will be closing all of our retail stores outside of Greater China until March 27. We are committed to providing exceptional service to our customers. Our online stores are open at www.apple.com, or you can download the Apple Store app on the App Store. For service and support, customers can visit support.apple.com. I want to thank our extraordinary Retail teams for their dedication to enriching our customers’ lives. We are all so grateful to you.
Even during store closure, hourly wage workers will be paid as usual. The company is also enabling flexible leave policies to allow employees to recover from COVID-19 related illness, or look after family members dealing with it.
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.
Apple is also working on flexible work arrangements, and allowing employees to work from home as much as possible. In its offices, the company is implementing regular deep cleaning, as well as temperature checks, to ensure the safety of employees.
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 maximize interpersonal space. Extensive, deep cleaning will continue at all sites. In all our offices, we are rolling out new health screenings and temperature checks.
The company is also donating towards the global COVID019 cause, and matching employee donations. Apple has donated $15 million globally so far towards the cause.
Apple’s committed donations to the global COVID-19 response — both to help treat those who are sick and to help lessen the economic and community impacts of the pandemic — today reached $15 million worldwide.
In a separate statement, Apple announced that WWDC 2020 will be an online-only event in June, however, the dates were not confirmed by the company.
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