Twitter tells its staff to work from home as coronavirus spreads

• Twitter has made it mandatory for employees at the company's South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan offices to work from home.

Twitter has told its nearly 5,000 employees across the world to work from home so as to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Twitter human resources chief Jennifer Christie in a blog post encouraged all employees globally to work from home if they are able to. "Our goal is to lower the probability of the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus for us - and the world around us," the post by Twitter human resources chief Jennifer Christie said.

Twitter has made it mandatory for employees at the company's South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan offices to work from home. “We are working to make sure internal meetings, all hands, and other important tasks are optimized for remote participation," Christie said.

Earlier, the social media giant banned all non-essential business travel and events for its workers. It has also announced its decision of pulling out of this month's South by Southwest media conference in Austin, Texas.