HONG KONG (Reuters). UBS Group has announced that it will break up its 2,500 Hong Kong employees into two different groups. Each group will return to their workplace every alternate week as city curbs tighten amid a surge in COVID-19 case.

The contents of Thursday’s memo were confirmed by a bank spokesperson.

This is in response to fears of another wave of COVID-19-related infections within the Asian financial center. Hong Kong announced that it would ban some inbound flights for two weeks. It also placed restrictions on indoor dining, closed swimming pools and bars, and banned all forms of entertainment.

There were 38 cases of coronavirus in New York City on Wednesday.

According to the memo, UBS employees were instructed to limit “cross-floor” travel within the bank’s offices in order to minimize contamination risks and to not socialize with other members of their team.

Standard Chartered (OTC) has divided up its 6,000 employees into two teams this week.

The banks in Hong Kong are operating at almost full capacity, which is not the case with other financial centers like New York and London. This has been possible because the city adhered to a zero COVID strategy, isolating itself from outside the rest of the world.