London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Switch being made to working from home

Switch being made to working from home

The first Foreign Ministry news conference after the Spring Festival vacation was not held in the blue hall, as is often the venue, but via a WeChat group involving over 200 journalists.

Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying answered 20 questions in 65 minutes on Monday.

It was the first time the ministry, the world's only diplomatic department with news conferences every working day, held one online.

The online option was taken to protect journalists' health and provide them with timely information, according to a notice the spokesperson's office sent to media outlets.

Monday was the first working day after the State Council announced a nationwide extension of the Lunar New Year holiday to Sunday in connection with the novel coronavirus epidemic. A number of companies, schools and government departments now require their employees to work from home until the epidemic subsides.

Jiang Huizhong, an English teacher at an international school in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, now assigns online homework for students, who initially would have returned to school on Monday.

"Teachers and students in our school are from different countries. As some airlines canceled their China flights due to the epidemic, online is the best way to continue our teaching in this situation," Jiang said.

Distance learning allows the students to continue their studies in the relative safety of their homes, she said, but it is also less efficient than classroom learning.

Jia Yanzhao, a programmer at a foreign e-commerce company, said telecommuting is a flexible option that could effectively reduce the risk of being infected with the virus.

Jia started working from home on Monday, saying it is not new to him. With a computer and the internet, he said, he could continue doing so.

"Working from home under the current situation helps avoid crowds gathering, reduces the risk of getting infected while commuting to work and saves medical supplies that are already in short supply, like the face masks," he said.

However, it could increase the costs of communication, he said.

"Working from home helps us feel safe during the outbreak because everyone is isolated," said Liu Yue, who runs a company importing cosmetics from South Korea.

"I didn't ask my staff to return to work as soon as possible. Instead, all of us discuss work online, which ensures my employees' safety," she said, adding that it is worthwhile to sacrifice efficiency for safety.

Telecommuting, if it can be promoted, will save small and medium-sized enterprises that rely on the internet a large amount of money in office rent, she added.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×