Irish staff of firm at centre of US coronavirus outbreak sent home

Twelve Irish employees of the US biotechnology firm whose company conference in Boston last month has led to 51 coronavirus cases in Massachusetts have been directed to work from home.

The number of Covid-19 cases in the US north-eastern state have more than doubled and the state’s governor has declared a state of emergency after the number of new cases of the illness surged to 92.

The majority of the cases are connected to employees at biotech company Biogen.

Massachusetts health secretary Marylou Sudders said that 70 of the coronavirus cases in the state were connected to employees at the company, which is based in Cambridge, next to Boston.

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Charlie Baker, the state's governor, declared a state of emergency in response to the outbreak.

All 12 employees of the company's Irish operation, which is based in Citywest, Dublin, are working from home, a spokesman for the company said.

The spokesman for the firm's UK and Ireland operations said the "difficult situation" in the US has led the company to take measures in its overseas operations in response to the outbreak, including making employees work from home and reducing the number of meetings and travel.

“As a precautionary measure and in close alignment with authorities, in some of our locations such as Baar, Switzerand, and the UK and Ireland, office-based employees and contractors are now working from home until further notice,” said the spokesman.

“Additionally, we are taking precautionary measures to help mitigate the spread of illness, including limiting internal and external business meetings, and restricting travel until further notice. We continue to closely monitor the situation.”

Infected

About 175 executives attended the Biogen leadership conference, travelling from across the US and the world to attend the event at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf hotel on February 26th.

The drug-making firm announced last week that three people who had attended a company meeting in Boston in February tested positive for coronavirus. Any employee who attended the meeting was directed to work from home for two weeks, the company said.

The number of infected people who attended the conference has increased significantly with cases emerging in Indiana and Florida relating to the conference in Boston.

The company’s UK and Ireland spokesman would not say whether any Irish or Irish-based employees of Biogen attended the conference or whether they were in self-isolation in Ireland.

“Since this is private information, it’s not something we can share with everyone, moreover the situation might evolve,” he said.

The company was “working in all countries with health authorities and are closely following their guidance,” he said.

“Due to private laws, employees are not required to disclose personal information about their health to the company, and therefore tracking the number of cases is the responsibility of the local health authority,” he said.