Gurugram employees to work from home till March 31 as offices asked to shutter down

• The advisory is for all MNCs, IT firms, industries, BPOs and corporate offices in Gurugram.
• Earlier, a 29-year old woman was confirmed positive for coronavirus.
• The woman has travel history to Malaysia and Indonesia, which together have over 800 confirmed cases of coronavirus.

Gurugram district administration has asked all offices to shut down and tell employees to work from home as a preventive measure against coronavirus (COVID-19). The advisory has been issued to all MNCs, IT firms, industries, BPOs and corporate offices located in the Gurugram district.

The advisory comes after a 29-year old woman in Gurugram was confirmed positive for coronavirus. She works for a Gurugram-based company and has travel history to Malaysia and Indonesia.

The advisory issued by the Gurugram magistrate is effective immediately and will be valid till March 31.

"This is the first positive case of the coronavirus in Haryana," state Director General of Health Suraj Bhan Kamboj told the media. She is currently in a hospital and her condition is stable.

Schools, colleges and universities have already been closed

In a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the Haryana government has already ordered the closure of schools, colleges and universities till March 31. Apart from this, cinema halls, gyms and night clubs have also been ordered to close as a precautionary measure.

Total coronavirus cases in India climb to 137

The total confirmed cases of coronavirus have climbed to 137 in India. The rate of confirmed infections has risen by almost 174% in the last seven days, increasing from 50 on March 10 to 137 on March 17.

So far, there have been two deaths due to coronavirus in India.

To reduce the spread of the disease, authorities have started cancelling visas of visitors from the most affected countries. Further, several state administrations have also started shutting down education institutions, cinema halls, restaurants and more as a precautionary measure.

Work from home emerges as a popular measure

Various companies across the country have started recommending their employees to work from home. The list includes companies like Flipkart, Paytm, Wipro, Tech Mahindra among others.

Some companies have imposed the work from home rule mandatorily, including Zerodha which has 1,200 employees.

Some other companies like Coal India have stopped using biometric attendance systems temporarily to reduce the risk of infection.

See also:

Mumbai will shut down everything except essential services until March 24 to keep coronavirus from spreading

India’s top entrepreneurs form Founders against COVID-19 and ask government to head for a complete lockdown, build war rooms