The novel coronavirus, now termed as COVID-19, has brought the world to a standstill. The earliest cases were detected in Wuhan, China in November 2019. Slowly but surely it has already ravaged through entire China and Europe. It is now spreading across the globe at an unprecedented rate. The World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 as a pandemic on 11th March 2019. Following this declaration, many countries began taking precautionary measures to curb the spread of this disease. India too has been hit by the virus and is now on a fast-paced track to control the situation before it gets out of hand. Since social distancing is the need of the hour, companies have been hard hit to continue work as usual.
With the world coming to a pause, the effects of COVID-19 are going to hit the economy hard. So what does that mean for India’s economy? The government is assessing the situation daily as of now. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has asked for a task force to be set up under Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, which will take necessary actions in the near future after analysing the COVID-19 pandemic situation.
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Precautions for private-sector employees issued by Central Government
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has issued a circular which outlines certain steps that the private sector and LLP employees need to take in view of the spread of COVID-19. These are as follows:
- The corporate sector has been asked to help curb the spread of the disease by practising social distancing, i.e., reducing any gatherings of people. Since COVID-19 spread from person to person, it is important now to maintain distance from other people. Furthermore, an infected person can be asymptomatic for 14 days but still be able to transmit the virus to others. Hence, it is crucial to avoid going out into public for any unnecessary reason.
- The MCA has relaxed the rules for any Board meetings. It has also dispensed the necessity of having physical face-to-face meetings for matters related to approval of financial statements, board report, restructuring, etc. up to June 30th, 2020. MCA is also viewing any other rules which can be relaxed under the Companies Act 2013, for the time being.
- All companies and LLPs have to execute a work from home policy until 31st March 2020. The situation will be reviewed at that point to assess if the policy needs to be extended further. All companies and LLPs have to the maximum possible extent, have all their employees at headquarters, regional offices and field offices work from home which includes conducting meetings through video conference or other electronics means too.
- For the absolutely essential staff who have to come to offices, staggered timings have to be given out, to reduce physical interaction as much as possible.
- All employees should follow public health advisories which include washing your hand for 20 seconds minimum; not touching your face; sneezing or coughing into your elbow or tissue; refraining from any physical contact with other people.
- To confirm the readiness of companies and LLPs to comply with rules for the COVID-19 threat, they have to fill out a web form called CAR ( Company Affirmation of Readiness towards COVID-19). This will be available from 23rd March 2020 and has to be duly filed by an authorized signatory of Companies and LLPs instantly.
Precautions for state government employees
State governments have been asked to install thermal scanners. Meanwhile discouraging the entry of visitors in government offices and avoiding non-essential office travel. They have also been asked to explore staggered working hours and work from home options for their employees.
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