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Covid Restrictions: PHE Official Calls for More Working From Home

A top Public Health England official has called for people to continue working from home past 19th July, when the majority of Covid restrictions are set to end.

The Government announced that working from home, wherever possible, will no longer be required, while encouraging employees to return to offices safely.

However, Dr Susan Hopkins, a regular alongside Prime Minister Boris Johnson during daily Covid briefings, has called for people to keep remote working for at least four to six weeks amid a huge rise in Covid cases fuelled by the more transmissible Delta variant.

“I think over the next four to six weeks that needs to be very cautiously implemented by businesses to keep transmission down,” she told Times Radio when discussing a mass return to the office.

“There are advantages to being in workplaces and many people have to go into workplaces.

“If you are able to do your business effectively from home then I think over the next four to six weeks, with a rise in cases, we should try our best to do that.

“Then we should continue to look and see and have a cautious return to the office over the coming weeks once we start to see a decline in the number of cases.”

Hopkins’ comments come as a recent survey by CV Library, shared by MailOnline, found that 55% of workers asked were nervous about returning to the office on the 19th when the majority of Covid restrictions are set to end.

Of the 1,100-plus respondents, 73% said they preferred the flexibility of working from home, while 33% still feel uncomfortable because of Covid.

 

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