KOLKATA: Apple India is shutting down its four sales offices in India and the development centre for maps in Hyderabad as part of the global step which the iPhone maker has taken to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus amongst its employees and associates.

As per two industry executives aware of the plans, over 5,000 employees and associates of Apple in India will be largely working from home. Apple has four sales offices in India located at Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurgaon. An email sent to Apple India is yet to elicit any response.

The status of Apple’s local manufacturing operation with two partners – Foxconn and Wistron – will be decided by the partners as per their protocol, an executive said.

In a global advisory issued by Apple CEO Tim Cook, he said all offices globally outside China is moving to flexible work arrangements. “That means team members should work remotely if their job allows, and those whose work requires them to be on site should follow guidance to maximize interpersonal space. Extensive, deep cleaning will continue at all sites. In all our offices, we are rolling out new health screenings and temperature checks,” he said.

Cook also said all hourly workers will continue to receive pay in alignment with business as usual operations. “We have expanded our leave policies to accommodate personal or family health circumstances created by COVID-19 — including recovering from an illness, caring for a sick loved one, mandatory quarantining, or childcare challenges due to school closures,” he said.

Apple CEO said the committed donations to the global COVID-19 response — both to help treat those who are sick and to help lessen the economic and community impacts of the pandemic — has reached $15 million worldwide.