Working remotely again

Twitter, which owns the social networking site of the same name, has temporarily closed two offices in the US after two weeks of abandoning remote working. A company spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Twitter has decided to close its New York and San Francisco offices immediately and to postpone the return to operations of its other offices," CNBC cited the statement as saying. "We continue to monitor the situation on the ground closely and are making appropriate adjustments, putting the safety and health of our employees first."

CNBC notes that the appropriate measures were taken only two weeks after Twitter employees returned to office work in New York and San Francisco. The company stressed that the decision was guided by updated recommendations from the US federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC has renewed the requirement to wear protective masks indoors in areas where the coronavirus is spreading rapidly since Wednesday. The restrictions even apply to those who have been vaccinated. CDC chief Rochelle Walensky explained at Tuesday's briefing that the measures are due to the rapid spread of the delta strain and new evidence suggesting that "In rare cases, some vaccinated people who become infected with the delta variant after vaccination may be infectious and transmit the virus to others".

According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 34.6 million cases of the coronavirus have been identified in the USA, and more than 611,000 people have died. The country ranks first in the world on both counts.