Employees within the public sector should be urged to work from home as part of efforts to slow down the spread of COVID-19, the Nationalist Party said on Saturday. 

Addressing a virtual press conference, PN MPs Clyde Puli and Claudette Buttigieg said the government should immediately ensure its employees are encouraged to work from home. This, Puli said, would help avoid having the country go into full lockdown as seen in other countries. 

"Public sector employees should be encouraged to work from home. The private sector should also be incentivised to allow employees to work remotely.

"Looking ahead, the government should start looking at the necessary changes that need to be carried out to ensure once the pandemic is over, remote working continues," Puli said. 

Public sector workers were instructed to work from home where possible earlier in the year, in the initial months of the pandemic in Malta.

When case numbers declined in early summer, workers were told to resume their normal working arrangements, with remote working arrangements subject to department managers' approval. 

On her part, Buttigieg said that before the pandemic hit, it was mostly women who opted for remote working arrangements. This, she said, should not be the case when the pandemic passes and both men and women should feel they can take up such arrangements. 

Several unions, the pair said, have also spoken out about the importance of tele-working both as a short-term solution but also as something that will continue when COVID-19 passes. 

Asked about the PN's proposal of having a committee to oversee public health decisions, Buttigieg said politicians should not be the ones to make decisions on health. Though they would be part of the committee being proposed, it would be the experts who have the final say.