In an effort to avoid passing the coronavirus, the New York Stock Exchange announced that it is closing its floor and going to a virtual trading platform starting Monday.

The closing of the New York Stock Exchange's trading floor will be until done until further notice.

“NYSE’s trading floors provide unique value to issuers and investors, but our markets are fully capable of operating in an all-electronic fashion to serve all participants, and we will proceed in that manner until we can re-open our trading floors to our members,” said Stacey Cunningham, President of the New York Stock Exchange. “While we are taking the precautionary step of closing the trading floors, we continue to firmly believe the markets should remain open and accessible to investors. All NYSE markets will continue to operate under normal trading hours despite the closure of the trading floors.”

The stock exchange is highly visible, especially in recent times as the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost nearly one third of its value in the last six weeks.