Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Friday directed all IT and biotech companies in the state to make their employees work from home amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
"Minimise contact among employees by replacing face to face meetings with teleconference or video conference," said an official statement, following a video conference meeting chaired by Deputy Chief Minister C. N. Ashwath Narayana with the heads of IT, biotech and startup companies to outline measures aimed at containing coronavirus.
Infosys co-founder and IT Vision Group chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan, Biotech Vision Group and Biocon Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Nasscom chairperson Debjani Ghosh and others attended the video conference.
Other directives directed at the IT and biotech companies included deploying only those employees working on mission critical projects and essential services in office, and releasing all the remaining employees to work from home.
Managements of the companies have to set up a regulatory mechanism for the safety of employees.
Curtailing business and personal travel unless it is unavoidable and critical and maintaining social distancing at offices was urged as a public health measure.
Maintaining proper office cleanliness and hygiene, regular housekeeping, routine cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces, equipment and other elements of work environment was also emphasised.
All were also urged to promoting frequent and thorough hand washing with soap and use of hand sanitiser among employees, visitors and customers as well as encouraging proper respiratory etiquette generally and in the time of sneezing and coughing.
Employers should develop policies requiring employees to report sickness or Coronavirus symptoms, and encourage employees to call 104 helpline and discourage direct travel through public transport to reach a hospital in the event of contact with a suspected Covid-19 case.
Firms were told to identify and isolateg potential infectious individuals at office to protect other employees, and implementing flexible leave policies which allow executives to self-quarantine as a precaution.
High risk employees such as old executives, pregnant women and employees with underlying medical conditions were advised to take extra caution.
The state government has already written to Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) and internet service providers (ISPs) to offer uninterrupted power and connectivity services to facilitate virtual collaboration.
Meanwhile, the South Western Railway (SWR) zone has cancelled another 28 trains till the month end due to Coronavirus-induced low occupancy.
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