The move follows reports that a member of staff at Chevron, which shares the Westferry Circus building with Crossrail, started feeling unwell after returning from a skiing trip in Northern Italy and did not go to work on Tuesday.

Westferry Circus is one of several Crossrail offices across London, with the main headquarters located at Stratford.

A spokesperson for Crossrail told the Enquirer: “We have received a report of a Chevron employee based at the 1 Westferry Circus building in Canary Wharf who has been sent for tests for suspected coronavirus.

“As a precautionary measure we requested that Crossrail staff who are based at this building work from home. We continue to monitor the situation closely and will be keeping our staff updated.”

Meanwhile, organisers of the international property conference Mipim have insisted the event will go ahead in Cannes next month despite a spike in coronavirus cases in Europe.

Yesterday commercial property agent Cushman & Wakefield became the first firm to pull out of the show as a result of the outbreak.

In a statement, it said: “The health and safety of our employees and our clients is our priority.

“With the rapidly increasing number of cases of coronavirus in Europe and the elevated industry-wide concern around attendance at large multinational events, we have decided to withdraw from MIPIM.”