Taipei, May 17 (CNA) Civil servants in Taipei and New Taipei can now work more flexible hours or work from home, the two city governments said Monday, as they stepped up their efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 amid a rise in locally transmitted cases in the two municipalities.
According to Lin Chin-hui, deputy commissioner of the Taipei City government Personnel Department, 28 government offices in Wanhua District, the center of the epidemic outbreak in Taipei, started Monday to disperse their civil servants to work at different locations.
Among the 2,461 public servants in the district, 862 are police officers, firefighters and other field workers who do not have to go into office, Lin said.
She said 83 local government employees in the district are now working from home, 361 have been dispersed to different locations, and 1,155 -- mostly essential workers -- are still at their usual offices.
The Taipei City government is also asking civil servants in other districts to work from home or move to other locations, in an effort to reduce office density, as Taiwan strives to curb the spread of COVID-19, Lin said.
In New Taipei, meanwhile, civil servants are now allowed to start work between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. and leave between 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., in an attempt to prevent overcrowding by commuters during rush hours.
In the city's health department, however, at least half of the staff must arrive between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. and leave between 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., which are peak work periods, according to the local government.
The latest measures are being implemented due to a rising number of domestic COVID-19 cases of unknown origin in the two northern municipalities.
On Saturday, the Central Epidemic Command Center raised the COVID-19 alert to Level 3 for Taipei and New Taipei, which means that indoor gatherings of more than five people and outdoor gatherings of more than 10 are not allowed until May 28.
Also Monday, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), two physicians by profession, both warned that the pandemic has not yet reached its peak in Taiwan and the number of confirmed cases is expected to increase significantly in the coming days.
Former Vice President Chen Chien-jen, a renowned Taiwanese epidemiologist, in an open letter jointly signed by other epidemiologists, called on the public to strictly follow the government's containment measures to help tackle the current challenge.
In a Facebook post, Chen said the COVID-19 variant from the United Kingdom, which is highly infectious, is the dominant virus in the current outbreak.
He urged the public, particularly residents of Taipei and New Taipei, to stay indoors for the next two weeks so as to help contain the spread of the virus.
