JOIN USKarnataka government puts Bengaluru IT firms on high alert
Techies living in a Whitefield apartment block where the city's first coronavirus patient resides have been asked to work from home.
A techie working at a prominent technology multinational company which employs the infected person said the HR department sent an email to the employees on Monday afternoon, asking 10 techies living in that apartment to work from home.
"A screenshot of the e-mail had been doing the rounds since morning. By afternoon, we received communication from the HR department that 10 employees living in the apartment where the infected person resides should work from home," the techie told DH.
All the 10 employees were sent home soon after the case was confirmed.
The city’s first coronavirus case prompted the state government to put IT and IT-enabled services industries on high alert across Bengaluru.
The government is in touch with the heads of IT and ITES companies, some of which are said to have asked their staff to work from home.
Deputy Chief Minister Dr C Ashwath Narayan, who also holds the IT and BT portfolio, said the government had directed the companies to explore giving their employees the work-from-home option. The government has also asked the companies to share their employees' travel history. "I will soon call a meeting with the heads of IT and BT companies to decide the future course of action," Ashwath Narayan told DH.