The Asian country of Singapore stated on Tuesday that it may force companies for suspending operations if they do not do more to ensure the employees may work from home for reducing the risk of coronavirus or COVID-19 infections, as the city state confirmed 47 more cases of the respiratory illness.

Coronavirus in Singapore

"If we assess that a company has not made a serious enough effort to implement telecommuting, we may have to issue a stop work order," Minister for Manpower Josephine Teo said. She said that if the nature of their business allowed work to be done from home, firms should do their utmost to make this happen. The Southeast Asian city-state recorded its third death from the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday. It has reported a total of 926 cases of the virus to date.

The coronavirus outbreak has created a major stir around theworld in recent times claiming the lives of around 37,000 people and also the infected more than 600,000 people globally. The WHO has described it as a pandemic.

(With agency inputs)