San Francisco, Mar 22 (IANS): With most employees now working from home, Microsoft has announced that it has paused the releases of new major versions of the Edge browser including version 81, citing the ongoing "global circumstances" surrounding the coronavirus outbreak.

Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, most system administrators are most likely busy handling the security of employees taking care of their families in these tough times.

Microsoft said it does not want to put an extra strain on system administrators and other IT staff personnel by releasing a new Edge version at this particular time, zdnet reported on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Microsoft Edge will continue to receive security updates, but that the "stable" Edge 81 version that comes with deprecations and breaking changes has been delayed until things go back to normal.

Similarly, Google has paused the upcoming releases of Chrome and Chrome Operating System (OS) and decided to keep the existing and essential software up and running globally.

The Chrome development team acknowledged that "adjusted work schedules" have led the tech giant to hit pause button on the "upcoming Chrome and Chrome OS releases."

Google also said that Android app reviews will take more time as the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced in-office staff.

The delay is understandable as in the case of new software releases, bugs are often reported and with reduced staff, it would be difficult for Google to address those vulnerability concerns, if these arise.

Google-owned YouTube has also said that it would rely more on its Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms to moderate content.