New Delhi - Search engine giant Google Inc has closed a
centre in India's southern city of Hyderabad after one of its
employees was diagnosed with the H1N1 swine-flu virus, news reports
said Wednesday.
Google is the first company in India to close an office due to
swine-flu fears, the NDTV network reported.
'He (the employee) has been hospitalized and is under full medical
care,' a spokesman for the California-based company told NDTV.
'As a precaution we have closed the concerned office in Hyderabad
for two days, the 14th and 15th, and are taking all necessary steps,
including the sanitizing of common areas, to protect our employees.'
The suspicion is that the one staffer may have passed it on to at
least seven other employees who are now in the isolation ward at
Hyderabad's Chest Hospital, the report said.
The company declined to give the exact headcount of the centre,
but the company's workforce in India is among the largest outside the
US.
Google added that there would be no impact on its operations.
'This is not Google's main office in Hyderabad. This is a small
centre with very few people. So there would be no impact on
operations,' Google said.
According to Indian health authorities, more than 200 people have
been infected by the H1N1 strain of influenza. Twenty-three confirmed
infections have been reported from Hyderabad.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story