Federal employees exposed to Covid-19 will be quarantined at work

The national human resources authority has released new rules to limit the spread of the virus

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Federal government employees with exposure to confirmed or suspected Covid-19 cases must be “isolated in temporary quarantine facilities at work pending hospitalisation”, new guidelines say.

Staff should first be moved to an empty room set aside for the purpose and then taken straight to hospital.

The rule is in a new instruction manual from the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources setting out how employers should respond if an employee is exposed to someone believed or known to have the coronavirus.

“All federal entities are urged to provide all possible logistic support for protecting their employees, customers and communities and co-ordinating with relevant authorities to transport people with suspected or confirmed Covid-19 from their work premises to hospitals for testing, as well as identify those with exposure to confirmed and suspected cases and isolate them at their temporary quarantine facilities pending hospitalisation,” Wam, the UAE’s news agency, reported.

Employees have a duty to report any travel, and whether they have been in contact with confirmed or suspected cases, the manual states.

They must also “submit their Covid-19 testing result before reporting to their workplaces”.

Last week Fahr sent a note to all federal bodies to say state employees would face a pay cut for flouting the rules.

Anyone infected with coronavirus who goes to work and fails to inform their manager, and workers who do not comply with treatment or refuse to continue with it, face forfeiting up to 10 days of their basic salary.