Coronavirus outbreak: Two Tesla employees tested positive, CEO Elon Musk donates ventilators

The news came from the company itself that told employees in an internal memo that two office staffers were tested positive for COVID-19.

The news came from the company itself that told employees in an internal memo that two office staffers were tested positive for COVID-19. (Bloomberg)

A new report suggests that two Tesla employees in the US have also been tested as positive for the COVID-19 disease. The news came from the company itself that told employees in an internal memo that two office staffers were tested positive for COVID-19. Also mentioned was that both the infected employees have been working from home. The names of the two Tesla employees have not been revealed though.

As per the memo sent to employees and shared by Forbes, the two unidentified people "had been working from home for nearly two weeks" and "were not symptomatic in the office, and both are quarantined at home and recovering well." Also mentioned in the memo was that "Their direct coworkers, who were already working from home for nearly two weeks as well, were immediately notified so they can quarantine and watch for symptoms."

Meanwhile, it has been reported that Tesla has finally halted the production of its electric vehicles at its main San Francisco Bay Area plant in Fremont. CEO Elon Musk said to have kept the production going despite local authorities asking the electric car-maker "that it wasn't an essential business and needed to comply with stay-at-home rules that currently cover California".

But it has also been reported that workers at Tesla headquarters were given an option to work from home. However, they didn't.

In the past few days, Musk has downplayed COVID-19 severity several times on his Twitter handle. He even suggested that "kids are essentially immune" and promoted anti-malaria drug chloroquine as a treatment without any authenticity.

On the other hand, Musks's Gigafactory facility in New York is supposed to reopen and produce ventilators that are in short supply in the US. "Working on that with Medtronic. Given NY pressing needs, we're delivering Resmed, Philips and Medtronic ventilators to NY hospitals starting tonight," Musk tweeted on Thursday.

The Tesla CEO has already donated 50,000 N95 surgical masks and protective items to a hospital in the US.

With inputs from IANS.