DBS Evacuates 300 Singapore Staff After Worker Gets Coronavirus

(Bloomberg) -- DBS Group Holdings Ltd. has evacuated 300 employees from an office floor in the heart of Singapore’s financial district after one of its workers tested positive for the coronavirus.

Southeast Asia’s biggest bank has told the staff members on Level 43 at Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3 to work from home for the time being, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg. A DBS representative confirmed the contents of the memo and said the bank is preparing a statement.

“This is indeed unfortunate and we will be providing our colleague and his family every support and guidance during this period,” the bank said in the document. The lender is “conducting detailed contact tracing to ensure that those who have been in close contact with the staff member are informed,” it said.

The coronavirus had already been detected in Singapore’s financial district earlier this week, prompting some companies to send workers home and temperature screening checkpoints to be set up at the entrances of several towers. A worker at an unnamed firm in Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 1 was confirmed as being infected with the virus over the weekend.

--With assistance from Serene Cheong, Faris Mokhtar and Alfred Cang.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in Singapore at cchanjaroen@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Marcus Wright at mwright115@bloomberg.net, Russell Ward, Katrina Nicholas

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