Amazon is recommending employees in New York and New Jersey work from home until the end of March as the coronavirus continues to spread.

The company is asking employees in the Seattle area and Italy to work remotely as well.

There are now 142 confirmed cases of coronavirus in New York State, including 20 cases in the New York City area.

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Amazon is recommending that its employees in New York and New Jersey work from home as the coronavirus continues to spread.

The company advised employees on Monday to work remotely beginning March 10 until the end of the month, according to an internal memo seen by Business Insider. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the news.

"In light of new COVID-19 guidance from the New York Health Department that was issued on March 9, we are changing Amazon's guidance for New York and New Jersey corporate office employees to recommend that all employees based in these locations and who work in a role that can be done from home," the memo said.

There are 142 confirmed cases of coronavirus in New York state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Monday, including 20 cases in New York City. Mayor Bill de Blasio has asked all New Yorkers to consider working from home. The company has more than 8,000 employees across its tech hub and fulfillment centers in New York City, according to the Journal.

"The email left it a little open ended as far as working with your manager to establish expectations," an Amazon employee in New York City told Business Insider, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "But direction from my senior manager to our team was pretty clear that we should not come in this week and would re-evaluate at the end of week."

Amazon issued a similar directive to employees at its Seattle headquarters last week after an employee in its Seattle office and two in its Italy offices tested positive for the coronavirus. Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Twitter have also asked employees to stay home.

"We continue to work closely with public and private medical experts to ensure we are taking the right precautions as the situation continues to evolve," an Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider in an email. "This includes recommending that employees who are able to work from home in Seattle/Bellevue, the Bay Area, New York, New Jersey and the Lombardy region/Asti province of Italy do so through the end of March."

The coronavirus, which began in Wuhan, China, more than two months ago, causes a respiratory disease known as COVID-19. Cases have been recorded in more than 100 countries, more than 111,000 people have been infected, and more than 3,900 people have died from the virus. Though the vast majority of cases are in China, nearly 770 deaths have been reported outside of mainland China, including 22 in the US.