Saudi government agencies have tightened their precautionary instructions against the coronavirus outbreak in line with the partial opening of economic activities.
According to a recent royal decree, curfews will be eased between 9 am and 5 pm until May 13 and some economic and commercial activities were allowed to re-start, including wholesale and retail shops and shopping malls.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has announced 25 precautionary measures to prevent coronavirus outbreak in the workplaces.
These include reducing the number of meetings and workshops and preventing direct contact among employees.
The Ministry stressed that the safety of workers and employees is a top priority.
It issued a guide for employers and workers in all sectors to help limit the spread of the virus, and urged them to follow the instructions, along with those given by official authorities.
The instructions include basic infection prevention measures, highlighting the need for continuous sterilization of fingerprint devices, offices, receptions, copy machines, doors, keyboards, etc.
They stressed on providing hand sanitizers at workplaces and avoiding hand shaking, urging all the workforce to take the necessary measures to prevent contact with employees coming from abroad before the end of their quarantine period.
The Human Resources departments were given special instructions to reduce the number of meetings, workshops and training courses, prevent gatherings, use visual communication and activate work remotely.
The Ministry requested these departments to prepare plans to reduce the number of employees in the workplace and divide employees into teams, while ensuring that a sufficient distance is kept between them, which is less than one meter.
According to an official document obtained by Asharq Al-Awsat, Riyadh’s municipality has called for implementing 30 precautionary measures to re-open malls and commercial establishments.
These included not using banknotes, restricting trade as much as possible to electronic means, closing dressing and prayer rooms and removing benches.
