Apple intends to donate money in support of groups fighting the outbreak of the Coronavirus in China, Tim Cook said on Saturday.

1600px Coronaviruses 004 lores

Electron micrograph of coronavirus virions

In a morning tweet marking the Luna New Year, the Apple chief said the company will be "donating to groups on the ground helping support all of those affected."

A coronavirus is a family of viruses that include the common cold, but this particular virus has never been detected before. Medical doctors have subsequently named it 2019-nCov, for "novel coronavirus."

The new virus causes severe acute respiratory infection. Since its discovery in the city of Wuhan in Hubei Province, it has killed at least 42 people and infected 1,372 across China.

On Saturday, Australia confirmed its first four cases in Melbourne, followed by three more in Sydney. Two cases of 2019-nCoV have been discovered in the United States. It has also spread to Europe, with three cases confirmed in France.

The cases largely involve people who had recently travelled from the affected region in China.

Apple often provides donations during natural disasters and catastrophes. The company recently made a donation pledge to support fire fighting efforts in Australia, where bushfires have been burning after one of the worst droughts in history and record-breaking heat waves.

Top Rated Comments

I7guy Avatar
65 months ago

I wonder if Cool would have done the same if such an out real happened in the US? Like I always say, he is a kiss ass to China
When it comes to getting people sick, isn't it better humankind band together than pretend no threat exists?
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
luvbug Avatar
65 months ago

If that virus makes its way over to the factory in China where most iPhones come out of and the government puts that factory into Quarantine then Apple is screwed. Apple from there would be an easy short with production/manufacturing coming to a stop.
Yes, of course, that is the most important issue here. /s Where is your head at??
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
V_Man Avatar
65 months ago

Including moving production out of China. But India and Vietnam are fine with it ?

No matter how much China kisses up to Cook, that trend will continue as assembly becomes increasingly more expensive in China.
Time will tell. But for now. Apple is extremely dependent on China. China could destroy Apple if they decided to stop all production.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
65 months ago
This virus seems like the next bad news in infectious diseases. Anything to help to contain this virus is welcome.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PickUrPoison Avatar
65 months ago

Imagine if the virus can live in the apple bionic chips, then there would be millions of people contaminated by that in short amount of time. That’s scary.
Imagine if the Sun exploded. Or rather turns into a red giant 5 billion years from now, expanding past the orbit of Mars. Billions of people dead in less than 10 minutes—if we’re even still around by then.

Now that’s scary. And it’s actually going to happen, unlike your groundless fear.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dampfnudel Avatar
65 months ago

Yes, of course, that is the most important issue here. /s Where is your head at??
Of course human lives matter more than iPhones, but I think it’s safe to assume that there will be a meeting at Apple to address the negative ramifications of a forced factory closure in China if this outbreak escalates. It’s possible the meeting may have already occurred. So in that context, this may be the most important issue at Cupertino at the moment (not that they would actually say that for PR reasons).
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
iPhone 17 Air Size Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With Rear Camera Bar Allegedly Shown in Leaked Photo

Tuesday January 21, 2025 12:46 pm PST by
A leaker known as "Majin Bu" today shared an alleged image of a component for the rumored, ultra-thin "iPhone 17 Air" model. The blurry, pixelated image shows a pair of rear iPhone shells with a pill-shaped, raised camera bar along the top. On the left side of the bar, there is a circular cutout that appears to be for a single rear camera. On the right side of the bar, there appears to be an ...
iPhone SE Dynamic Island Majin Bu

iPhone SE 4 Leak Shows Dynamic Island, Casts Doubt on Rumored 'iPhone 16E' Name

Monday January 20, 2025 9:01 am PST by
A new iPhone SE is widely rumored to launch this year, and the device has potentially been confirmed today by known leaker Evan Blass. In a private social media post, Blass shared an image of what appears to be source code mentioning an iPhone SE (4th Gen), which casts doubt on the alternative "iPhone 16E" name rumored for the device. However, the name in the source code could be a...
airtag 4 pack blue

AirTag 2 Launching This Year With These 3 New Features

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory. A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June. The original AirTag was announced...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Rumored to Be Compatible With These iPhones

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models: iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhon...
apple power beats pro 2

Powerbeats Pro 2 Coming Soon: Apple to Announce Them 'Imminently'

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:25 am PST by
In September, Apple said that it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and it appears the wireless earbuds are coming very soon. Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the Powerbeats Pro 2 in regulatory databases last month, Gurman said Apple is...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...