Coronavirus outbreak: Brac asks head office staff to work from home

Brac has instructed all non-essential staff working at its head office in the capital's Mohakhali to stay at home and work remotely from March 22 to March 25 as a preventive measure against the novel coronavirus.

Staffers of the development organisation at field offices across the country will also maintain curtailed activities, Brac Executive Director Asif Saleh said.

Employees were asked to avoid non-essential travel, the executive director said, adding that the interim measures will continue for a week.

More directives will be issued by Thursday, he said.

The decision will be reviewed on March 28.

In the meantime, Brac field officials working under different programmes across the country have been instructed to act as health volunteers in different awareness campaigns for coronavirus prevention.

"We have 50,000 community health volunteers across the country and 45,000 members have joined the initiative to raise awareness against coronavirus," Saleh said.

Aside from their work on the ground, Brac is also using its social media platforms to raise awareness.

Relevant content on proper hand washing and respiratory hygiene is being regularly promoted through Brac's Facebook page and blog.

The NGO has also set up a dedicated website: http://www.brac.net/covid19/ where people will get "concrete, reliable and updated information".

Saying that Brac is fully prepared to assist the Government of Bangladesh in its fight against coronavirus, Asif Saleh also called upon the authorities to decentralise the Covid-19 testing facilities across the country to deal with the situation more efficiently.