Private offices in Delhi told to switch to 'work from home' as COVID cases rise

New Delhi, January 11, 2022

All private offices in Delhi have been mandated to ask their employees to work from home in view of the surge in COVID-19 cases in the past few days.

The decision came after a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) chaired by Lt Governor Anil Baijal here yesterday to review the COVID-19 situation in the national capital.

The meeting noted that the numbers of COVID-19 cases, including those of the new and more transmissible variant Omicron, were rapidly increasing and the positivity rate had crossed 23%.

The eeting felt it was necessary to impose additional restrictions on the movement and gathering of people to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

"All private offices shall be closed, except those which are falling under the 'Exempted Category' as prescribed in DDMA's GRAP Order No. 460 dated 08.08.2021. The practice of work from home shall be followed," the order issued today said.

The meeting also decided that all restaurants and bars would be closed. However, restaurants would be allowed to function ony for home delivery or takeaway of food items.

Till now, offices had been asked to function with half their employees in office and the rest at home. Government offices in the national capital are already working with only 50 per cent capacity.

Delhi reported 19,166 new cases of COVID-19 infection and 17 deaths in the last 24 hours. It had added 22,751 cases and 17 deaths to the tally yesterday.

The number of active cases of COVID-19 in the national capital rose by 5,073 in the last 24 hours to 65,806.

NNN