(Reuters) – Apple Inc has temporarily closed three retail stores in Miami, Annapolis and Ottawa after a rise in COVID-19 cases and exposures among employees, the iPhone maker said on Wednesday.
COVID-19 cases are rising in parts of Canada and the United States, with Canada’s government imploring its residents not to leave the country.
Apple said on Tuesday all customers and employees at its stores in the U.S. will be required to wear masks.
The spread of the Omicron variant is causing more worry for several major companies, prompting them to tighten their protocols.
Google told its employees they would lose pay and eventually be fired if they did not follow the company’s vaccination rules, according to a report, while JP Morgan Chase & Co has asked its unvaccinated staff in Manhattan to work from home.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
