Amid rising concern about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), from tomorrow until March 27, most public servants will be working on a shift system to avoid clustering at their offices.
The Department of Public Information (DPI) in a report yesterday said that the decision was made by President David Granger in order to protect the health and wellbeing of public servants.
This follows the confirmation of three active COVID-19 cases in Guyana. The fourth case, a 52-year-old woman, died last week.
In a memorandum addressed to permanent secretaries, heads of departments and regional executive officers yesterday, it was stated that on a directive from Granger to coordinate the public service response to COVID-19, the Department of Public Service has approved staff rotation measures to prevent clustering at the workplaces during the period March 16 – 27, 2020.
“Managerial staff/Heads of Units are expected to be present at work every day. All other staff are to be placed on rotation via a roster system and are expected to be at work on alternate days, to maintain an operational public service. On those days when staff are not in office, they are expected to be ‘on call’ and be prepared to work at short notice, should the need arise,” the memo says.
The memo said that staff with flu-like symptoms should call the emergency hotline and not go to the hospitals. “Please note that Public Service Rule H45 which requires the officer to produce a medical certificate after being sick for three (3) consecutive days is still in effect. Further, public servants who are absent due to a mandatory COVID-19 quarantine for 14 days must be cleared by a medical practitioner prior to assuming duty,” the memo says.
“To contain the spread or COVID-19, every Ministry/Department/Region has a responsibility to sanitise the work environment intermittently during working hours to protect all stakeholders. Please follow all guidelines set out by the Ministry of Public Health regarding containing the spread ofCOVID-19,” it added.
