Google recommends all North America employees to work from home

(Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's <GOOGL.O> Google is recommending all of its North American employees to work from home if their roles permit, the search giant said on Tuesday, aiming to minimize the risk of spreading the coronavirus.

The new recommendation is an expansion of a similar guideline it gave to employees in San Francisco Bay area.

Most of the big companies have so far limited the work-from-home option to specific regions in the United States.

Business Insider, which first reported the move, said Google sent out a memo on Tuesday to its tens of thousands North American employees, recommending them to work remotely until at least April 10.

Separately, a Google spokesperson said the company is temporarily banning ads for medical face masks on its platform "out of an abundance of caution".

Google said it is establishing a COVID-19 fund, by which all its temporary staff and vendors can take paid sick leave if they show symptoms of the virus or are unable to come to work due to being quarantined.

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)