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(Updates to add quote from International SOS)
By Engen Tham and Scott Murdoch
SHANGHAI/HONG KONG, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Companies across
China are handing out masks and warning staff to avoid the
central city of Wuhan amid fears that the new flu-like
coronavirus will rapidly spread with much of population
embarking on travel for Lunar New Year holidays.
Firms from Foxconn to Huawei Technologies
and HSBC Holdings have issued advisories. The
government has urged members of the public to be extra careful
if showing symptoms of a fever or a cold, and has asked travel
and other companies to accommodate people who might be affected.
The death toll rose to nine on Wednesday with more than 470
confirmed cases, Chinese health officials said.
At Foxconn's Lunar New Year party on Wednesday, founder
Terry Gou advised Taiwan-based employees not to visit mainland
China during the week-long holiday period.
"Colleagues and their families who have come back from Wuhan
are all in isolation at home. The infection is spreading very
fast," Gou added.
Company workers in Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak, have
been wearing facemasks and getting their temperature checked,
the Apple supplier also said.
Huawei Technologies has asked staff to reduce travel to
Wuhan and avoid contact with animals, adding that it had set up
an outbreak prevention and control team in the city to carry out
disinfecting activities, according to an internal note seen by
Reuters.
Citic Securities and investment bank China
International Capital Corp have asked employees to
avoid trips to Wuhan and Hubei, the province of which it is the
capital, if they can, sources said. Employees who travel there
are required to report the trip.
Citic has also asked staff to voluntarily quarantine
themselves if they do travel to Hubei.
Huawei and Citic Securities did not respond to requests for
comment. A CICC representative declined to comment.
HSBC said it had advised employees that travel can continue
to Wuhan, but has asked them to be extra vigilant.
"We have stepped up cleaning measures at all our premises
and all employees have been reminded to be more mindful of
hygiene procedures and to stay at home or see a doctor if they
feel unwell in any way," a spokeswoman said in an email.
Didi Chuxing, China's largest ride-hailing company, said
this week it would issue masks and disinfectant to its drivers
and would let passengers and drivers in Wuhan cancel trips for
free in the days up to Jan. 31. The company would bear the
costs.
Anthony Renshaw, medical director for health consulting at
International SOS, said more than 100 multinational companies
had contacted the medical and travel security services firm so
far for information and advice, mainly about travel to Wuhan but
also for international planning.
"Some companies are wondering whether they should have
something like this, a global health incident plan. If they do
have something like this many of them are reviewing it in the
context of the coronavirus incident," he said.
"Companies are at the moment raising their crisis teams and
having regular meetings about the situation and getting
briefings.... A lot of multinationals are seeing this as a key
risk for business resilience."
Travel booking platforms such as Trip.com have said
users can cancel travel plans to Wuhan for free, while
Shanghai's Disneyland said it will waive rescheduling fees for
entry and hotel ticket buyers within six months of the purchase
date, given that customers might be changing their travel plans.
Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd said it
will allow passengers to Wuhan to change or cancel flights
without charge through Feb. 15 and permit cabin crew to wear
masks on flights to the mainland.
Tencent Holdings also cancelled an annual event in
Shenzhen at which founder Pony Ma and other top executives hand
employees Lunar New Year red envelopes containing cash. A
spokesman for the tech giant declined to comment if it was due
to the virus.
(Reporting by Engen Tham and Scott Murdoch; Additional
reporting by Yimou Lee in Taipei, Zoey Zhang in Shanghai, Kane
Wu in Hong Kong, David Kirton in Shenzhen and Yilei Sun in
Beijing; Writing by Brenda Goh; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and
Peter Graff)
