A closed Apple Store is pictured in a deserted EUROMA2 shopping mall in Rome on March 12, 2020, as Italy shut all stores except for pharmacies and food shops in a desperate bid to halt the spread of a coronavirus. (ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP)

Apple Inc said late on Friday it will close all its retail stores, except those in China, for the next two weeks to minimize the risk of coronavirus transmission.

"We will be closing all of our retail stores outside of Greater China until March 27," Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote in a letter posted on the company's website.

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Greater China is an informal term usually used by multinational companies to refer to their business operation area that encompasses the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.

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“In all of our offices, we are moving to flexible work arrangements worldwide outside of Greater China,” he added. “That means team members should work remotely if their job allows.”

Apple reopened all 42 of its branded stores on the Chinese mainland on Friday.

The company’s donations to the global coronavirus response, to help treat those who are sick and to help lessen the economic and community impacts, reached US$15 million on Friday, Cook wrote in the letter.