Yahoo Finance Kinross Gold shuts Toronto office after employee confirmed to have coronavirus
Kinross Gold (K.TO)(KGC) has closed its Toronto head office after an employee tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, the company said on Wednesday.
Kinross said the infected worker was most recently in the building for one-and-a-half days ending March 3, and is currently at home in self-quarantine, in “good condition.”
Kinross’ office is located at 25 York St. in the city’s downtown core. Employees are being asked to work from home until at least March 20.
Kinross said the worker, who was not identified in the company’s news release, did not attend the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference last week, where a man in his 50s from Sudbury, Ont. is reported to have contracted the virus.
Although Kinross’ statement said it is coordinating with Toronto Public Health, it is unclear if this case of COVID-19 is new or part of the 108 confirmed by health officials in Canada as of Wednesday afternoon.
Toronto Public Health has asked all Kinross employees to monitor for any symptoms. The senior gold producer said COVID-19 has not impacted production or product shipments at any of its sites.
Local news station CP24 reported earlier on Wednesday that an office tower at 25 York St. was being disinfected after a worker tested positive for the virus.
The building also houses offices for Canadian telecom company Telus (T.TO) and PC Financial, which is operated by CIBC (CM.TO).
“As soon as we were made aware of the situation, Public Health was notified and we immediately sanitized the impacted floor and all common areas including elevators and washrooms,” Jamie Okorofsky, a spokesperson for Menkes Developments, the building’s owner, told CP24. “The building is fully operational. Whether our tenants chose to return to work is entirely up to them.”
Kinross is not the first major Canadian firm to close offices or asked staff to work remotely due to COVID-19. E-commerce company Shopify (SHOP.TO)(SHOP) announced in a tweet on Wednesday that its employees will work from home starting March 16.
As COVID-19 continues to impact people and countries around the world, Shopify will be going remote first starting March 16th. Working from home will help play a part in reducing the spread of the virus, and hopefully lessen its potentially huge burden on the healthcare system.
— Shopify (@Shopify) March 11, 2020
Accounting firm BDO Canada recently shut its Toronto office after an employee tested positive for COVID-19. A Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) employee based in Mississauga, Ont. has also tested positive for the virus and remains at home in self-isolation.
