MAKKAH: A number of Saudi companies have asked their employees to work from home as part of efforts by the government to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.  A manager at one company, who asked to remain anonymous, said it was important that employees were provided with the IT services they needed to work from home. IT technicians in these companies played a key role in the success of the new move, the manager said, adding that some people would still have to report to work because their tasks could not be done remotely.  Saudi Ground Services (SGS), among other companies, has reduced work hours, business trips and meetings outside the office as preventive measures. Fahad Sindi, an SGS executive director, said that the work of the company was extremely important as employees operated in airports around the Kingdom.  “We started to think about reducing the number of workers in the workplace and assign their tasks to them while working from home as they do not have to be physically present,” Sindi said. “We use cloud services to ensure a smooth running of the business from home. We handle more than 100 million passengers a year and more than 900,000 flights. Most of our employees provide services from behind the counters, handle luggage, run cleaning equipment for airplanes, etc.” “Although 9,000 of our employees have to be physically present at the airports, we started to think of reducing this number and to rely on clouding,” he said. “We have reduced the number of employees in all airports. For example, we reduced the number of employees in the head office from 600 to 12. The business is being run smoothly without any glitches or problems, which means it’s a huge success,” he said.  Abdulkareem Al-Qadhi, a lawyer, told Arab News that the government procedures were in line with the public interest.  “Workers should be paid their salaries in full even if they are working from home because this is only a temporary procedure,” he said.  Dr. Tarek Madani, contagious diseases professor at King Abdulaziz University, said that the coronavirus caused upper respiratory system infections such as coughing, a sore throat and sneezing, or lower respiratory system infections such as lung infections. If a sick person sneezed, the virus could be transmitted to a person who was a distance of one meter from the sick person.  Dr. Madani advised employees to stay away from people who had respiratory infections, and to wear masks and wash their hands with soap.  “It is advisable to stay away from crowded places and not touch one’s eyes, nose or mouth and also cover one’s mouth when sneezing,” he said.  “There is no need to feel panic and exaggerate in taking preventive measures,” Dr. Madani said. He said that the majority of people who contracted the virus had recovered — 97 percent. Deaths were mostly among the elderly who had chronic health problems such as heart disease, diabetes or high blood pressure, and who were not taking medication for these conditions.