Covid-19: As Delta threatens, Apple also delays reopening office until Jan 2022
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus spreading faster than ever to at least 132 countries, the world’s top iPhone maker Apple has delayed return to the office until at least January 2022, as the USA is particularly witnessing a surge in cases of Covid-19.
The company said its employees would get a month’s notice before they re-join work in-person, according to media reports on Friday, citing an internal email.
Earlier, Google had also extended its work-from-home schedules until October 18 for the same reason. Many other IT majors of Silicon Valley followed.
As of August 19, the UK had reported nearly 23,200 cases of Delta variant (B.1.617.2) while the USA had more than 101,000, followed by Denmark (26,000-plus), India (19,000-plus), and France (17,000-plus)
“I know there are feelings of frustration that the pandemic is not yet behind us. For many colleagues around the world, this period has been a time of great tragedy, suffering, and heartbreak. Please know that we are all here to support one another and stand with one another during such challenging times,” said, Deirdre O’Brien, Senior Vice President (People and Retail).
In June, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook had said that employees would be required to return to offices thrice a week starting in early September, which was then moved to at least October.
Earlier, Facebook also delayed its return-to-office plans till early next year. Microsoft pushed its full office reopening date from September to “no earlier than October 4, 2021”.
Twitter has shut offices in the US while Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said they will require employees to be vaccinated before returning to the office in the latter part of the year.
Amazon has also announced to delay its return-to-office timeline by January 2022.
The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of Covid-19 infection cases and deaths at 37,291,739 and 625,153, respectively.
