Apple stores will be temporarily closed in Italy on March 7 and 8 due to the notice issued by the Italian government.
As per the notice, issued by the President of the Council of Ministers last week, all medium and large retail stores will remain closed over the coming weekend to halt the spread of the virus, reports stated on Wednesday.
The Italian government is working hard on a raft of measures to be rolled out quickly “to protect Italians and to support our companies” amid the current coronavirus outbreak, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said earlier.
The preventive measure is part of a new decree issued by the government hoping to prevent spreading of the virus which has caused 3,089 infected cases and 107 fatalities in the country.
Meanwhile, Apple has started reopening its retail stores in China. As per the company’s regional Chinese website, 29 out of 42 stores were open for business on last week, though under limited hours.
These stores located in Mainland China were closed due to the ‘abundance of caution’ as the coronavirus threat loomed. Apart from the stores, the company also closed all its corporate offices and contact centres in the region.
Last week, Apple warned that coronavirus outbreak will affect its business in the January-March quarter as worldwide iPhone supply will be temporarily constrained. In an investor update, the tech giant said it no longer expects to meet the revenue guidance it provided last month for the upcoming quarter.
According to Apple, outside of China, customer demand across its product and service categories has been strong to date.
(With input from agencies)