Elon Musk confirms no Tesla employee has coronavirus, advises work from home

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that he is not aware of any Tesla employee testing positive amid coronavirus scare across the world. In a memo, Musk also advised Tesla workers to work from home if they feel ‘slightest bit ill or even uncomfortable’. However, Musk said he will continue to be at work personally.

Last week, Elon Musk had tweeted that the coronavirus panic is 'dumb'. The tweet had evoked mixed reactions from Twitter users. He thinks the new coronavirus (COVID-19) debate is just 'dumb’.

On Sunday said that the unnecessary fear over the pandemic is not good for the humanity.

"Fear is the mind-killer," Musk tweeted.

This is not the first time Musk has underplayed the danger from COVID-19.

In a tweet last week, he said that "the coronavirus panic is dumb."

"Virality of CoV-19 is overstated due to conflating diagnosis date with contraction date & over-extrapolating exponential growth, which is never what happens in reality. Keep extrapolating & virus will exceed mass of known universe," the tech billionaire reasoned.

"Fatality rate also greatly overstated. Because there are so few test kits, those who die with respiratory symptoms are tested for C19, but those with minor symptoms are usually not. Prevalence of coronaviruses & other colds in general population is very high," Musk said.

Amid the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus which has killed nearly 5,000 people in the world, Musk appears to be dancing to his own tune, underplaying the danger from the threat time and again.

In a memo to SpaceX employees last week, Musk said that they were far less likely to die from COVID-19 than car crashes.

Musk added in the email that he does not think COVID-19 is "within the top 100 health risks in the United States".

In the US, over 1,600 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus have been reported, while more than 40 people have died due to the disease caused by the virus.

(With inputs from agencies)