Eli Lilly and Co. is asking its employees to work from home if possible to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission, a company spokesperson confirmed Sunday.

All U.S. employees were notified Sunday via email and told that the step was “out of an abundance of caution,” spokesperson Scott MacGregor told IndyStar. Additionally, the pharmaceutical company is restricting domestic travel.

MacGregor said there are no known cases of Eli Lilly employees with COVID-19, and the rare step to ask employees to work remotely was made based on how the situation is progressing nationwide. There is no timeline for how long the company will ask employees to work from home.

As of Sunday night, there were 21 fatalities due to the coronavirus in the U.S. and 537 confirmed cases nationwide. A majority of the deaths were in Washington state, along with two in Florida and one in California.

A second case in Indiana was confirmed Sunday, which is an adult who lives in Hendricks County. Both Hoosiers with the virus were at the same BioGen conference in Boston in late February. State officials announced the first case on Friday.

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In addition to Indianapolis, Eli Lilly has U.S. locations in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, California, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.

By asking workers who can to stay home, it also reduces the risk of virus transmission to staff who don't have the option of working from home such as those working in manufacturing and in research, MacGregor said.

Here in Indianapolis, he said the company has 11,000 employees, but it's hard to say how many people will be able to work from home because a sizable number of local employees work in manufacturing and research and need to come in to complete their work.

This step is about employees' safety but also allows the company to continue to produce medicines, he said.

Eli Lilly already had international travel restrictions in place due to coronavirus precautions, but as of Sunday only domestic travel that is deemed "business critical" will be allowed, MacGregor said. He added that includes all types of travel from air to train and buses.

MacGregor said that the company will continue to keep employees updated and have supervisors check in to make sure employees are healthy and still able to complete their work.

"We hope to maintain normal productivity as much as possible throughout this period," he said.

Call IndyStar education reporter MJ Slaby at 317-447-1586 or email her at mslaby@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @mjslaby.