The growing COVID-19 pandemic has seen the closure of many stores in an attempt to stop the spreading of the virus. Organisations all over the world are doing their part and so is Apple. China has done an incredible job in attempting to suppress the spread of the virus and currently as of 19th March 2020, for the first time, have not reported any new cases. So Apple had decided to re-open its 42 stores that are located in China due to the slowing down of cases. However, the same cannot be said for the rest of the world.
According to The Verge, apparently, Apple stores in the rest of the world is going to remain shut for a while. In a statement to Bloomberg, Apple said that the shops will be closed “until further notice.” Previously, Apple CEO Tim Cook had announced that all retail stores outside of China will be closed until 27th March 2020, however, because of recent developments, plans have changed.
The exact reason for this closure is yet to be notified, but initially, the US stores were only closed temporarily. Meanwhile, because of the high number of COVID-19 cases, the stores in Italy were closed last week until further notice. The US has already ordered the closure of restaurants, bars, schools, among others, to beat the pandemic. People are also advised to stay home and no social gathering of more than 10 people is allowed.
The Verge claims that Apple shutting down their stores in this manner is going to create some inevitable confusion as there are many people who have probably given their phones to repair. How will they collect it? What about all the return programs in place? There isn’t much information available at the moment as Apple is still updating its guidelines.
Currently, in Malaysia, there is a movement control order in place that enables only essential services to operate from 18th March till 31st March 2020. All non-essential retail stores will remain shut for this period. There are no Apple stores in Malaysia, only authorised resellers such as Machines, Switch, Epicentre and iStore, and under the control order, they are to remain closed until 31st March.
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