Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) on Monday has decided to let its officials and staffs work from home as preventive measure to face the spread of coronavirus in the country.
“To survive from the spread of coronavirus according to the advices of Bangladesh government and World Health Organization (WHO), all official activities of BOA shall be proceeded online from March 23, 2020,” stated the BOA through a media release on Monday afternoon.
“To complete the official emergency activities, the presence of officials and staffs has been limited. Beside, to prevent coronavirus spread, all respected members of the BOA and the officials and staffs of all the federations/associations are discouraged to enter the BOA [House]. They are requested to contact with email or telephone.” the press release concluded.
Earlier on Saturday, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) decided to let its staff stay at home and work remotely and a day later, Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) closed its office and on Sunday, Bangladesh Volleyball Federation shut down the office until March 31.
BFF partly open due to April Polls
Due to BFF Polls scheduled for April 20, Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) can’t go off fully online. BFF limited its regular attendance to one-fourth while giving leaves to the rest of the officials and staffs, informed the federation’s general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag on Sunday.
Shohag also said that they discussed with the Fifa whether to defer the current election schedule but the reply was on Friday, “It is too early to make any comment”, while giving example of recently held Congress in Maldives. The AFC, through a letter received on same day, said they would observe the Polls through livestreaming without sending any person physically due to travel bans.
Consequently, on Saturday, a three-member election commission, formed on February 28, said that the schedule of the election will be announced on April 3 if the coronavirus remains under control.
“Around 70 percent staffs and officials were given leaves and can work from home if necessary. The rest 30 percent are working mainly for election purpose. The outsiders were advised not to visit before the situation gets better.” said Shohag.
The AFC, on March 17, took a two-week “work from home” initiative at its headquarter in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to safeguard the staff and their families from further exposure.
Through an open message to member associations, The AFC President, on Sunday, “strongly” urged all its Members to follow the advice of WHO to exercise the highest levels of hygiene and praised some Members who have also declared a “work from home” initiative.
Shohag talked about their ongoing initiative. “From thermal device to measure body temperature and providing hand sanitizers, BFF has taken all safety measurements at the BFF House to safeguard its staffs and officials.”
Meanwhile, the current executive committee of the BFF is eligible to run the office until April 30, ten-day before of which the upcoming election is scheduled for. The previous three Polls were held in due time.
