A civic group from East Bengaluru has written to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, seeking urgent enforcement of work-from-home in IT companies to check the Covid-19 outbreak.
In an email to the chief minister, Whitefield Rising noted that the “extraordinary measures” taken by the government have slowed down the spread of the Coronavirus.
“We are at the threshold of Stage 3 (community transmission) of the epidemic in our state. We request you to urgently consider enforcing IT companies to have their employees work from home,” the activists wrote, noting that some exceptions could be made.
“Not doing so may facilitate our risk of community transmission. If we may suggest sir, for companies who are unable to do that rotation of employees may decrease crowding of workplaces,” the group said.
While welcoming the efforts at contact tracing and quarantining contacts, avoiding public gatherings, banning international flights and other measures, the group said further distancing at the workplace was essential.
“Most of the IT company employees do not work in separate cubicles and there is a lot of workspace-sharing. Several employees use public transportation, further exposing themselves and others to the virus,” they said.
While some companies are giving the work-from-home option to some employees in a few of their branches, others are not.
The group noted the watch-and-wait approach had proved costly for several countries and any uncontrolled spread could be disastrous for Bengaluru.