ECB announces operational precautions linked to coronavirus

• All non-essential travel by ECB Executive Board and staff members restricted until 20 April 2020
• Conferences at the ECB postponed, with exception of monetary policy press conferences
• All non-essential visits including visitor group programme suspended

The Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) today announced a range of operational measures that it is taking as a precaution to protect its staff from risks associated with the spread of the coronavirus, COVID-19.

All travel by Executive Board members and employees judged to be non-essential is restricted until 20 April 2020 when the situation will be re-assessed. Visits to the central bank and its public visitor centre are suspended for the same period. The ECB is also postponing or cancelling conferences hosted at the central bank and its ECB Listens event in Brussels will be held on a new date. The ECB’s regular press conferences after monetary policy Governing Council meetings are not affected by this decision and the next press conference on 12 March will go ahead. The press conference will also be livestreamed on the internet as usual for those not able to attend.

“With today’s measures, we are taking steps to ensure the safety and well-being of our staff while maintaining a fully operational central bank and banking supervision function,” ECB President Christine Lagarde said. “The measures build on existing internal guidelines and constant communication with our staff, giving them advice about the virus and asking those who had been to affected areas to work from home for two weeks.”

To date there have been no registered cases of ECB employees with COVID-19.

For media queries, please contact William Lelieveldt, tel.: +49 69 1344 7316.

Notes

• The new date for the ECB Listens event in Brussels will be announced in due course.
• The ECB is extending its facilities for web-streaming and teleconferencing for both external and internal meetings, where this is not already offered.
• The regular ECB press conference is webcast on the ECB’s homepagevia its Twitter and YouTube channels and is also available live in low latency audio.