SINGAPORE, March 31 — Singapore said today it could force companies to suspend operations if they do not do more to ensure employees can work from home to reduce the risk of coronavirus infections, as the city state reported 47 more cases of the respiratory illness.

"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. — Reuters