The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced Saturday, Jan. 15 that it would limit onsite working capacity to 30 percent in offices within areas placed under Alert Level 3 amid the rising coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections among its personnel.
The DFA issued the advisory on the reduced workforce scheme after it noted a rather high 24.7 percent positivity rate among its staff, excluding those who have been identified as “close contacts".
“In view of this, the DFA is observing a 30 percent minimum onsite presence in all its offices under Alert Level III, while applying work-from-home and other flexible work arrangement,” the department said.
“And to ensure uninterrupted delivery of essential public services, no temporary closures will be allowed unless authorized by the Executive Secretary,” it added.
Metro Manila and over 50 other areas in the country will remain under the relatively strict Alert Level 3 from Jan. 16 to 31 in the government's attempt to contain the surge of COVID-19 cases, which health experts believe is the effect of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant.
READ: NCR stays under Alert Level 3 from Jan. 16-31
On Saturday, Jan. 15, the country logged 39,004 cases of COVID-19--a new single-day record. The Philippines also has a positivity rate of 47.1 percent out of the 78,774 tests done.