(Bloomberg) -- Royal Bank of Canada said an employee in New York tested positive for the coronavirus, adding to a growing list of financial firms reporting cases as the pandemic spreads.
The employee works in the investment banking division of RBC Capital Markets at the Brookfield Place complex in lower Manhattan, said RBC spokeswoman Sanam Heidary. The worker, who tested positive on Monday, and colleagues in close contact with the person are in self-quarantine.
“Upon learning of the case, we took a number of immediate steps to protect the health and safety of our employees,” Heidary said in an emailed statement. “As a precautionary measure, we immediately advised employees who work on the same floor to work from home while we undertook a deep clean of the impacted floor and all common areas.”
It's the third known coronavirus case for Royal Bank, after two employees at a suburban office west of Toronto were confirmed as having the virus. Those workers have been self-quarantined, and the company told their colleagues on the same floor to stay home until further notice. The Toronto-based bank also disinfected the affected floor and all common areas, including elevators, the cafeteria and washrooms.
Companies around the world are working to keep their businesses running as the highly contagious virus spreads. Financial firms including BlackRock Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., Morgan Stanley and Brookfield Asset Management Inc. have reported having employees who tested positive for the virus.
Read more: JPMorgan tells New York employees to work from home
Coronavirus cases have surpassed 127,000 globally, with deaths exceeding 4,700. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic and urged governments to step up containment efforts.
Read an update about the coronavirus pandemic
To contact the reporters on this story: Doug Alexander in Toronto at dalexander3@bloomberg.net;Jenny Surane in New York at jsurane4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Daniel Taub, Steve Dickson
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