The Centre, on Monday, directed the suspension of biometric recording of attendance in all government offices till January 31, in view of the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus in the country.
A directive from the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions, dated January 3, instructs all offices of the central government, including attached and sub ordinate offices, to suspend the marking of attendance through the Aadhaar based biometric attendance system and to record attendance in registers, instead. All department heads have been told to ensure COVID-appropriate behaviour in offices, including compulsory wearing of masks.
The suspension of biometric marking is attendance is a precautionary measure, given that the omicron variant is extremely contagious.
The national capital recorded over 4,000 fresh cases on Monday. Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said the omicron variant was present in 84 per cent of the genomes sequenced. This is a clear indication that omicron has replaced the previously dominant delta variant in the national capital. The case positivity rate in the population has gone up to 6.4 per cent, a huge leap in the last few weeks.
Delhi saw one more COVID death on Monday. Although most cases are still mild and the health infrastructure is so far managing the rising caseload, the worry is that even mild cases, when in huge numbers, can strain the health infrastructure. Also, it is still too early to understand how omicron will behave in the days to come.
As the first working week of 2022 begins, many private offices have gone back to work from home routine. Many in the private sector are yet to switch over to physical attendance. Governments offices, however, were working in full strength in the in-person mode.