KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) has asked all department heads to take note of the new circular involving quarantine leave facility, and make rational consideration if there is staff applying for such leave.

Its president, Datuk Adnan Mat, said they needed to simplify matters and not practice excessive bureaucracy, apart from the fact that consideration should also be given to the convenience of working from home if the staff involved could perform their duty from home.

At the same time, he said that Cuepacs hoped civil servants will not abuse the quarantine leave for improper purposes, as service delivery should continue to move forward no matter what happens.

"Make the best use of the facilities provided by the government. It should be noted that civil servants are at the forefront of the country in ensuring that the economic recovery can run smoothly,” he said in a statement today.

Yesterday, Public Service Department director-general Datuk Seri Mohd Shafiq Abdullah said that the government has agreed to extend the quarantine leave facility to other infectious diseases requiring quarantine or isolation, effective March 4.

Mohd Shafiq said that the government had improved the facility, which was previously limited to six types of infectious diseases, by including other infectious diseases on the list as acknowledged by government and private medical practitioners.

He said with the improvement, the name of the quarantine leave facility was amended to "leave to tend to quarantined children or those in need of isolation”.

Meanwhile, Adnan said the effort was hoped to provide relief to civil servants affected by the Covid-19 outbreak, as well as reduce the risk of closure of public service operations.

"We don’t want staff who have young children with Covid-19 to have to come to the office even if they are in close contact and need to look after their children,” he said. — Bernama