He noted that while Saturday and Sunday are holidays the other days are considered working days.

The President has issued a circular stating that the functioning of the public sector should not be affected in any way. Accordingly, the institutional heads should take appropriate decisions. The distant working mechanism should be planned effectively by the institutional heads in a manner that ensures the smooth functioning of the government sector. The purpose of taking the decision to have people work from their homes is to minimise the gathering of people.

However, he said that both the government and the private sector needs to devise mechanisms to have employees work from home as much as possible to reduce the number of employees gathering in offices. But, this should not affect the work that needs to be done to ensure the productive functioning of these establishments.
The government urged both the public and private sector to utilize telephones, SMS and other online methods to have their employees to contribute their services without having to come to offices.

Director-General Kaluwewa noted that therefore, except for the 21st and 22nd of March all other days are considered working days but during which employees could work from
home wherever possible.