Gloves are off now in the fight against the novel coronavirus, with the number of people affected increasing every day. It is, then, imperative that we as a nation do everything we can to contain the spread of the virus amongst us.

In this regard, social distancing will remain key, and one of the ways in which we can ensure this distance is by staying at home as much as possible.

This, however, will not be possible, unless and until organizations in Bangladesh start taking the initiative to allow their employees to work from home wherever and whenever possible.

The Dhaka Tribune has already taken this step like many other companies in Bangladesh and around the world, because we believe the safety and well-being of employees should come first.

It is unfortunate that many organizations, however, have yet to realize the seriousness of the global pandemic, waiting for the situation to deteriorate further before taking any steps.

But if there is a lesson to be learned from Italy, it is that if we wait for things to get worse, by that time, it will be too late to have any sort of control over the virus spreading across the country.

Some experts have even suggested that a lockdown of the entire nation might be good, though it is unclear whether such drastic measures are yet necessary but, at this point, we must take precautions wherever necessary.

In this era of Digital Bangladesh, there is no reason that we cannot put safety first while also ensuring that the wheels of the economy keep running. The internet makes it possible to work remotely in a way it would not have been, just a decade ago.

Editorial/Dhaka Tribune, Bangladesh