Apple to shutter all retail stores outside of China amid coronavirus

Apple will close all of its retail stores outside of China for two weeks.

The tech behemoth made the announcement in a public statement on their website Friday.

“We will be closing all of our retail stores outside of Greater China until March 27,” company boss Tim Cook said, urging customers to take their issues online. “The most effective way to minimize risk of the virus’s transmission is to reduce density and maximize social distance.”

The company also announced retail stores in China would reopen following that country’s aggressive response to the virus, which has seen new cases drop off in recent days. Apple stores in China began closing in January as the virus spread.

“As of today, all of our stores in Greater China have reopened,” the company said. “I also want to thank our operations team and partners for their remarkable efforts to restore our supply chain. What we’ve learned together has helped us all develop the best practices that are assisting enormously in our global response.”