GEORGE TOWN: Several thousand factory workers in Penang have been ordered to work from home, after one of them was found to have been in close contact with a confirmed Covid-19 patient.

Keysight Technologies and Agilent Technologies, who have a total of 6,000 workers, told their staff to leave the company grounds by 7pm on Wednesday (March 12).

The factories are located next to each other and share the same in-house F&B facility.

"It has come to our attention that an employee could possibly have been exposed to Covid-19. The employee has not shown any flu-like symptoms.

"While the site is not under any serious threat, the management with an abundance of caution, has decided to take proactive action to safeguard the health of all our employees," the management of Keysight Technologies wrote to its workforce in an email.

Copies of the email has been spreading on social media.

The company declared that all employees must work from home starting from Thursday (March 12) until further notice while the factories are being sanitised.

It asked employees to stand by for updates by Sunday (March 15).

"We realise the disruption that this causes to your work plans, but as always, the health and safety of our employees and their families is paramount," the management added.

A check on the factory grounds on Thursday morning showed that the spacious car park area nearly to be devoid of cars as the security guards at the gates confirmed the closure.