Employers have been advised to avoid requesting employees in isolated areas to report to work, the Director-General of Health Services said on Sunday (Nov. 22).

“By the time an individual begins to show symptoms after contracting the virus, he/she may have many contacts; thereby, all the first contacts will have to undergo quarantine which could result in the entire company being shut down for two weeks,” Dr. Asela Gunawardena, the Director-General of Health Services emphasized while commenting on the matter of institutions requiring employees in isolated areas to report to work.

As an area is put under isolation based on valid reasons to contain the spread of the virus, Dr. Gunawardena strongly reiterated that unless for an essential reason, employees from isolated areas should not be asked to report to work.

“However, we receive many requests daily, for curfew passes to be issued for employees to report to work. This is common in both the public and private sectors,” Dr. Asela Gunawardena noted.

According to Dr. Gunawardena, there is no certainty on whether or not those in isolated areas have been exposed to the virus, given that a majority of patients so far, have been asymptomatic.