Apple announces new measures to tackle Covid-19

Yesterday, Apple announced that it would be holding its annual developer conference online instead of inviting people to its campus. The firm has now announced further measures to tackle the deadly disease. The measures include matching employee donations to fight the disease, store closures outside of Greater China until March 27, and more.

One of the measures that Apple will implement is a donation matching programme. To assist in the elimination of Covid-19, Apple has so far donated $15 million worldwide, now it will also match any donations made by its employees to assist in response efforts locally, nationally, and internationally.

Many countries have now begun implementing social distancing strategies to encumber the spread of the coronavirus. To further these efforts, Apple is closing its retail stores outside of Greater China until March 27. The firm encourages people to use its online store if they want to purchase items from the company.

In its offices, employees will be moved onto flexible work arrangements outside of Greater China, they will be allowed to work from home if their job allows for it. While people are out of the offices, Apple will continue to deep clean all of its office spaces to further inhibit the spread of the disease. Additionally, it’s rolling out health screenings and temperature checks to ensure people are healthy.

Hourly workers will continue to receive payments in alignment with business as usual operations and leave policies have been adjusted to accommodate personal or family health circumstances created by Covid-19 such as recovering from the illness, helping sick relatives, mandatory quarantining, and issues around childcare.

As of 2018, Apple had 123,000 full-time employees. With these new measures, transmission rates could be lowered wherever there are high concentrations of Apple employees.

Aside from taking WWDC online, Apple has also released a new Covid-19 section on the Apple News app; this will help you keep up with all the latest information about the disease.