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Employers should allow employees to work from home if they are able to do so, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) today (Apr. 30).

Employers were also advised to:

• Continue to stagger start times of employees who need to return to the workplace, and implement flexible working hours.
• Avoid social gatherings at the workplace

These measures help lower transmission risks by reducing interactions at the workplace and in public places, including public transport, said MOH.

MOH also said that public agencies working in the Novena area such as the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) will be asking their staff to work from home where possible.

These announcements were made in light of a recent spike in community cases in the last few days, with the majority of them being linked to two new clusters announced on Apr. 29.

MOH also advised continued vigilance, so as to "avoid an uncontrolled resurgence of community cases".

It also advised members of the public to observe the following:

1. Avoid going to crowded places, and stay home where possible.
2. Limit social gatherings to two per day in total, whether it is with another household or in a public place.
3. Keep groups as small as possible.
4. Stick to a regular group of contacts.
5. Stay home when unwell, see a doctor to get tested when sick, and be vaccinated when it is offered to you.

"Our recent community cases show that the risks of a Covid-19 outbreak remains high, even as we press ahead with vaccination," said MOH, adding that enforcement efforts would be stepped up.

"We will continue to review the current suite of measures and will take further steps to tighten and significantly reduce the level of interactions in the community should transmission persist," said MOH.

Work-from-home not the norm from Apr. 5, 2021

The most recent update on Covid-19 measures in the workplace took effect on Apr. 5, 2021, when work-from-home was replaced by a hybrid working arrangement.

The following restrictions were relaxed from Apr. 5:

• Up to 75 per cent of the employees who are able to work from home can be at the workplace at any one time, up from the previous 50 per cent.
• The previous cap on the time an employee spends at the workplace was lifted.
• Split team arrangements were no longer mandatory, although companies may continue to adopt such arrangements if they wish.

After this was announced, public servants were encouraged to return to the office on three days each week.

Top image via Unsplash