Allow staff to work from home: Gurgaon admin advises MNCs, IT firms

The Gurgaon administration on Tuesday advised all multinational companies, IT firms, industries and corporate offices here to allow their staff to work from home till March 31 amid coronavirus outbreak.

The advisory comes even as a 29-year-old woman, who works in an IT firm here, on Tuesday tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the first such case in the Millennium city.

"In compliance of the Haryana Epidemic Diseases, COVID-19 Regulations, 2020 dated March 11 notified under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, all MNC, IT firms, industries, BPOs, corporate offices situated in Gurugram are advised to allow their officer/employees to work from their home till March 31, 2020 with immediate effect to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19 in larger public interest, the administration said in a statement.

Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon Amit Khatri told PTI that it is only an advisory and "not any directive or order".

The Haryana government has already ordered closure of schools, colleges and universities, cinemas, gyms, clubs, night clubs till March 31 as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Till Tuesday evening, 137 people in the country had tested positive for the coronavirus while three people lost their lives, according to Union Health Ministry.