KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob today announced that public and private workers in management and supervisory position under red zone areas will be instructed to work from home from October 22 onwards.

In a press conference this afternoon, Ismail said this will affect those in Sabah, Labuan, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor.

He pointed out that this is to reduce the number of workers at premises, which will help break the chain of Covid-19 infections.

Meanwhile, employees living in red zones under conditional movement control order (CMCO) areas who need to go to the office will need to take Covid-19 swab tests.

Ismail said The Social Security Organisation (Socso) will cover the costs of the swab tests for contributors.

The decision will affect around a million workers — 800,000 from the private sector as well as 200,000 civil servants.

However, there will be exceptions for those involved in finance, making payments, enforcement, and welfare.

"Further standard operating procedures (SOP) will be issued by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) soon,” he said.

Ismail said currently there are nine clusters from workplaces in Selangor alone which was considered when the work from home decision was made.

The red zones under conditional MCO as of yesterday are Petaling, Hulu Langat, Gombak, Klang and Kuala Langat in Selangor, as well as Beaufort, Kota Belud, Kota Kinabalu, Kunak, Lahad Datu, Papar, Putatan, Sandakan, Semporna, Tawau, Ranau, Tuaran, Keningau, Kudat, Tambunan, and Penampang in Sabah.

Ismail said the work from home order will be in force until the conditional MCO ends.