(Reuters) - The Associated Press is temporarily closing its office from Friday in Washington, D.C. after one of its staff journalists, who had direct contact with a possible coronavirus patient, showed some symptoms of illness, the AP reported.

The staffer was one of hundreds of journalists at a journalism convention last week in New Orleans where an attendee later tested positive for the coronavirus, the news agency said in a news report.

A colleague of the journalist in the D.C. office also showed some symptoms and the AP told staffers there to work from home until at least Tuesday, according to the report.