Advertisement
Singapore markets closed

  • Straits Times Index

    3,176.51
    -11.15 (-0.35%)
     

  • Nikkei

    37,068.35
    -1,011.35 (-2.66%)
     

  • Hang Seng

    16,224.14
    -161.73 (-0.99%)
     

  • FTSE 100

    7,895.85
    +18.80 (+0.24%)
     

  • Bitcoin USD

    64,746.36
    +1,152.16 (+1.81%)
     

  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,371.97
    +59.35 (+4.52%)
     

  • S&P 500

    4,967.23
    -43.89 (-0.88%)
     

  • Dow

    37,986.40
    +211.02 (+0.56%)
     

  • Nasdaq

    15,282.01
    -319.49 (-2.05%)
     

  • Gold

    2,406.70
    +8.70 (+0.36%)
     

  • Crude Oil

    83.24
    +0.51 (+0.62%)
     

  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.6150
    -0.0320 (-0.69%)
     

  • FTSE Bursa Malaysia

    1,547.57
    +2.81 (+0.18%)
     

  • Jakarta Composite Index

    7,087.32
    -79.50 (-1.11%)
     

  • PSE Index

    6,443.00
    -80.19 (-1.23%)
     

UK employers should pay wages of those asked to isolate by COVID-19 trace system: minister

Reuters
·1-min read
Daily COVID-19 News Conference in London

LONDON (Reuters) - Employers should pay the wages of anyone told to stay at home by England's COVID-19 test and trace system, British health minister Matt Hancock said on Thursday.

The service is aimed at allowing the loosening of lockdown measures for most of the population. From Thursday, contacts of those who test positive will be instructed to isolate for 14 days, even if they have no symptoms.

Asked during an interview on Sky News if employers were being asked to step in and pay people's wages while they isolate, Hancock said: "Yes."

"If you are instructed by the NHS, for public health reasons, to stay at home then that is the equivalent in employment law to being ill and it is very important that employers are flexible about this," he said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Hancock also said an accompanying tracing app, that is key to finding anonymous contacts, is ready but is not being brought in yet.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton, Writing by Kylie MacLellan)