(Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. asked staffers in the New York City region to begin returning to the office early next month as coronavirus cases start to recede in the area. 

Employees in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut were asked to prepare to come back on Feb. 7. For other locations across the U.S., Citigroup will continue to monitor local health data before inviting more workers to return. A spokeswoman confirmed the bank’s plans.

Citigroup has already asked its London staff to come into the office at least three days a week after the U.K. government said people no longer needed to work from home. The New York-based bank was one of many across Wall Street to ask employees to work remotely at the start of the year after a surge of cases tied to the omicron variant of the coronavirus swept the globe. 

Citigroup has long said it will embrace remote work even after the pandemic subsides, and that the majority of workers will be able to work from home at least part of the time on a permanent basis. 

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