The Government's work from home message "should be strengthened" because of rising Covid-19 cases across Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham has said.
The mayor added there should be new rules to allow council and combined authority meetings to be conducted virtually.
The Government recently confirmed that such meetings should go ahead in person, despite the increase in Covid-19 cases because of the Omicron variant.
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Speaking to reporters during a virtual press conference, Mr Burnham also revealed that 15% of NHS staff in Greater Manchester are currently absent because of Covid-19 and Greater Manchester Police's rate was 11% during the Christmas period.
GMP's rates have now fallen up 9%, the mayor added.
Mr Burnham also said that the region's fire service's absence rates is 13.8% and the Metrolink's rates are at 13%.
The mayor said: "The month will get more difficult before it gets better."
On moving local authority meetings online, he added: "That seems to be a straight forward and easy thing to do".
According to the latest data, there were more than 2,000 Covid-19 cases in Greater Manchester in the week to December 31, 2021, a rise from 1,551 in the prior seven days.
