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Pentagon Imposes New COVID-19 Restrictions to Contain Outbreak, Reports Say

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US Defense Department will impose new COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions at the Pentagon in an effort to slow the outbreak among senior officials, Politico reported on Friday, citing an official.
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The new restrictions will go into effect on Thursday, requiring the building to go from 80 to 60 percent maximum occupancy, the report said.

The report noted, however, that the Pentagon has not reached 50 percent capacity since the outbreak of the disease earlier this year. Temperature checks on workers entering the Pentagon will be doubled, the report added.

Pentagon employees will be encouraged to work from home and use sick leave as much as possible, the report said.

On Thursday, the Defense Department said it is testing staff members who were in close contact with a Lithuanian delegation headed by Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis, who earlier tested positive for COVID-19 after visiting the Pentagon this week.

The acting undersecretary of defense for policy, Anthony Tata, also tested positive for COVID-19 after meeting with Karoblis on November 13.

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