Coronavirus Update: Hiring Up; Scammers Target Firms; Rental Cos Reassure Consumers

The coronavirus could have wide-reaching effects on the movie industry and malware, while it may not have impacted employment, among other sectors. Here are the latest updates on the coronavirus around the world.

Sony Pictures is temporarily shutting down offices in Paris, London and a city in Poland after an employee out of London might have had coronavirus exposure, CNBC reported. In a memo, the company said per the report, “We thought it was important to share with you that one of our London employees may have been exposed to coronavirus COVID-19 given recent travels to an affected area. Out of an abundance of caution, the London, Paris and Gdynia offices will be closed for the remainder of the week, and employees should work from home.” The news comes as an employee of Google had a positive test result for the virus at a Switzerland office, as did an employee in one of Amazon’s offices in Seattle.

In other news, American firms continued to bring additional positions in the market in February even with the coronavirus scare, CNBC reported. Employment increased by 183,000 last month, with the exclusion of government positions, per a Moody’s Analytics report. That figure exceeded the 155,000 that economists that Dow Jones had forecasted. Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi said, “COVID-19 will need to break through the job market firewall if it is to do significant damage to the economy.” Nearly all of job creation last monthly originated from firms that have over 55 workers in their employ.

And, in the middle of an outbreak of the coronavirus, Rent the Runway is telling its clients that its cleaning procedures “are designed to kill viruses such as the common cold and flu,” CNBC reported. It explained per the report that all merchandise undergoes a dry or wet cleaning process after it its returned. The company said in the memo per the report, “They also go through an additional steaming process which heats items to between 248°F and 302°F with the exception of faux fur, select outerwear, leather and faux leather garments, which still go through our standard cleaning processes.” The firm provides women’s clothing like denim, dresses and blazers for rent in addition to accessories such as home goods and purses.

On another note, the number of malicious emails that make references to the coronavirus has made a noticeable rise per Proofpoint Inc, The Wall Street Journal reported. The founder of one law firm in Houston noted that the lack of information around the virus in addition to discordant information is making an opening for criminals. One phishing e-mail, for instance, seemingly originated from an employee at the World Health Organization. In addition, Kaspersky Lab reported that it had found that 403 users of its security offerings encountered 2,673 files related to the coronavirus. A malware analyst said per the report that the firm hasn’t found out how the malware arrived on the devices.