Google says that updates to Chrome and Chrome OS are the latest coronavirus victims

The impact of the coronavirus is being felt around the world in many ways. The pandemic is forcing people to work from home, impacting on deliveries and production in addition to being a health threat to many.

Now Google has announced that updates for both Chrome and Chrome OS are currently on pause. While the company does not say that this is a direct consequence of the spread of COVID-19, it says that the delay comes because of "adjusted work schedules at this time".

See also:

• Google stops issuing security warnings to Microsoft Edge users
• Google displays warning in Microsoft Edge encouraging users to switch to Chrome
• Google helps devs speed up Firefox with open source Lighthouse extension

Google has clearly been affected as much as any other company in having to adopt social distancing policies and having employees work from home -- and this has unavoidable consequences for productivity in general, and deadlines in particular.

The change of approach means that Chrome 80 will be delayed; eagle-eyed users will have noticed that the March 17 release date has already come and gone anyway.

In a brief blog post, Google says:

Due to adjusted work schedules at this time, we are pausing upcoming Chrome and Chrome OS releases. Our primary objectives are to ensure Chrome continues to be stable, secure, and work reliably for anyone who depends on them. We'll continue to prioritize any updates related to security, which will be included in Chrome 80.

There was also a tweet from the Chrome Developers' account that said much the same:

Due to adjusted work schedules, we’re pausing upcoming Chrome & Chrome OS releases. Our goal is to ensure they continue to be stable, secure, & reliable for anyone who depends on them. We’ll prioritize updates related to security, which will be included in Chrome 80. Stay tuned.

— Chrome Developers (@ChromiumDev) March 18, 2020

The good news is that while there may not be new versions of Chrome or Chrome OS on the horizon for the foreseeable future, Google will still be releasing security updates if required.

Image credit: Ilya Sergeevych / Shutterstock