Dear all Valued Partners and staffs,
The Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is the new virus strain that have badly affected Wuhan City in December 2019. The virus has also spread across China and to at least 16 countries globally, including Singapore. More than 200 people have died in China and close to 9600 have been infected worldwide.
Precautionary Advisory
1. As the Wuhan Coronavirus situation in China continues to evolve rapidly, our Singapore Government has stepped up our safeguards accordingly. We strongly urged you to take up the appropriate precautionary measures in safeguarding your business and employees with the latest advisories published by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
Travel Advisory
2.To defer all non-essential travel for all your employees to Mainland China and avoid travelling especially to Hubei Province. Please check the Ministry of Health website for the latest updates of the Wuhan coronavirus before making any business travel plans.
3. Do obtain a health and travel declaration from all your employees on whether they have travelled to China recently.
4. For any of your employees who have been in China in the recent weeks, please monitor their health closely.
5. If you are unable to arrange them to work remotely, please consider the following:
· Provide paid Leave of Absence above and beyond annual leave, especially of the travel is work related;
· Allow employees to apply for annual leave;
· Treat Leave of Absence as sick leave;
· Allow employees to apply for no-pay leave;
· Other mutually agreed arrangements.
please refer to this advisory by the MOM for more details on the 14-day monitoring period.
Precautionary Advisory for all employees
6. Please remind all to remain vigilant, adopt good personal hygiene practices and exercise the following precautions at all times:
· Observe good personal hygiene
· Avoid crowded places and close contact with people who are unwell or showing symptoms of illness;
· Practise frequent and proper hand washing with soap and water (e.g. before handling food or eating, after going to toilet, or when hands are dirtied by respiratory secretions after coughing or sneezing). Hand sanitisers can be used in the absence of handwashing.
· Wear a mask if one has respiratory symptoms such as a cough or runny nose; Masks are effective if not soiled or stained. It is not recommended to use them for more than 24 hours.
· If not wearing mask, one’s mouth should be covered with a tissue paper when coughing or sneezing, and dispose the soiled tissue paper in the rubbish bin properly and immediately; and
· Seek medical attention promptly if one is feeling unwell.
· Avoid contact with live animals including poultry and birds, and consumption of raw and undercooked meats.
Impact on Business
7. Although the current situation in Singapore is stable and there are no signs of community spread, we advise all businesses to be prepared for different scenarios.
8. We recommend businesses to start developing business continuity plans to deal with the Wuhan Coronavirus if you have not done so.
Latest updates
9. All should closely monitor Wuhan Coronaviruses-related developments and follow travel and health advisories. Please refer to the MOH website for the latest update on the Wuhan Coronavirus situation.
Let us all continue to stay vigilant and stay safe!
Yorumlar