The World Health Organization (WHO) declared on January 30, 2020, that the outbreak of 2019 nCoV (novel coronavirus) is a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern.” Further information is available in the WHO statement. On January 31, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States also declared a public health emergency for the U.S. Further information from the CDC can be found here.
Reed Smith attorneys have written a client alert that focuses on issues relating to data privacy in an employment context. The team outlines common issues that businesses operating in the People’s Republic of China (PRC or China), Hong Kong and Singapore are likely to face arising from the outbreak of a novel type of coronavirus. The issues that have been identified are not meant to be exhaustive. As this is a developing situation, governments are revising their responses to mitigate the emerging risk to public health.