Lausanne, March 15 (IANS): In order to proactively limit the risk of spreading the coronavirus, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided that all its Lausanne staff will work from home starting from Monday.

According to a statement by the IOC, all its Lausanne-based staff will work from home starting Monday, until further notice, with the exception of some essential functions, Xinhua news reports.

Following a series of preventive measures announced by the Madrid Regional Government, Olympic Channel Services (OCS) and Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) staff in Madrid have similarly been encouraged to work from home.

Because of the high number of visitors to The Olympic Museum, which regularly hosts more than 1,000 visitors per day, it has been decided to close the museum from Monday, for two weeks. After this time, the situation will be reassessed.

"The situation around the COVID-19 virus is developing day by day, and many measures are being taken internationally to address the situation. The International Olympic Committee wants to support these concerted efforts to proactively limit the risk of spreading the COVID-19 virus, while at the same time continuing to work at full speed on the preparations for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, which start on July 24, 2020, and in particular the qualification process for athletes and teams. This is the main priority of the IOC," read the statement.

To date, there have been no reported coronavirus cases amongst the IOC's respective staff members.