The chief executive of BT, Britain’s biggest telecoms group, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and will work remotely over the next week, according to the company.
BT said in a statement that its CEO, Philip Jansen, tested positive on Thursday and has mild symptoms. He is following advice from UK health authorities to self-isolate, but no disruption to the business is expected.
A deep clean of parts of the company’s headquarters is underway, according to BT, which said that it will “ensure those employees who have had contact with Philip are appropriately advised.”
“Having felt slightly unwell I decided as a precaution to be tested. As soon as the test results were known I isolated myself at home,” Jansen said in a statement.
“I’ve met several industry partners this week so felt it was the responsible thing to do to alert them to this fact as soon as I could,” he added.
BT says it’s the largest mobile network operator in the United Kingdom, and the top provider of broadband. It has roughly 106,000 employees.
UK authorities said Thursday that 590 people in the country have tested positive for coronavirus, of which eight have died. The virus has infected more than 132,500 people and killed nearly 5,000 globally, according to the World Health Organization.
A growing number of public figures have tested positive for the coronavirus including actor Tom Hanks and Grégoire Trudeau, the wife of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
