IT companies, colleges gear up to face H1N1

Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has requested the city based IT companies to home quarantine its staff returning from influenza A H1N1 affected countries for at least eight days.

The PMC’s communiqué, issued by the additional municipal commissioner MS Devnikar on Friday, said “the infection is spreading worldwide and it’s a pandemic. Hence companies must take the required precautions.” “We have asked these companies to allow their employees to go for minimum eight days home quarantine on their return from any of the foreign location,” said Dhananjay Chandadkar, deputy health officer at PMC.

However, even before the PMC’s advisory was issued, the city based IT companies had already started taking precautions and creating awareness among its staff on the issue.

Mahindra Satyam and Wipro Technologies have asked employees to not to join office after returning from foreign locations for at least for a week.

A USA based spokesperson from Convergys said that employees have been provided with disinfectant wipes to clean their headsets and computer equipment prior to each shift.

“Employees are also encouraged to wipe down their desk, work area and headsets with anti-bacterial cleaning supplies provided by the company.

Infosys spokesperson told DNA ‘ we are only asking our employees to keep a close watch. So far there is no directive to work from home as we do not feel the necessity to work from home.”