Citing coronavirus threat, govt exempts employees from marking biometric attendance

All central government employees were on Friday exempted from marking attendance through Aadhaar-based biometric system as a preventive measure to check the spread of the coronavirus, according to a Personnel Ministry order.

Instead, they will be marking their attendance manually in the attendance register.

"It is learnt that the most common method of transmission of the virus seems to be through infected surfaces. Therefore, it is desirable to avoid touching surfaces, which might be infected due to human touch," the order said.

It said all the ministries have been asked to exempt their employees to mark attendance through the Aadhaar-based biometric attendance system till March 31.

"However, all employees are required to mark their attendance in the attendance register (as done prior to launch of the biometric system), during this period," the order issued to all central government departments said.

Though only a small number of novel coronavirus cases have been reported in the country, it is a must to take all possible preventive measures to stop its spread, the personnel ministry said.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the country is 31, according to health ministry officials.