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Iloilo City mayor requires random testing for call centers

By Perla Lena

March 18, 2021, 5:23 pm

<p><strong>RANDOM TEST</strong>. Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas requires random testing for employees of city-based call centers. As of Thursday noon (March 18, 2021) at least 89 employees of Hinduja Global Solutions, a call center company, tested positive for Covid-19. (File photo by Arnold Almacen/CMO)</p>

RANDOM TEST. Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas requires random testing for employees of city-based call centers. As of Thursday noon (March 18, 2021) at least 89 employees of Hinduja Global Solutions, a call center company, tested positive for Covid-19. (File photo by Arnold Almacen/CMO)

ILOILO CITY – Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas has called for random testing of call center employees after 89 workers of a company here were found positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

“We need to be proactive and require random testing in their call centers. We need to do it right away to ensure the safety of everyone,” he said in a message posted on the city government’s official Facebook page on Thursday.

Treñas instructed Dr. Roland Fortuna, the city government’s focal person on Covid-19, and Francis Cruz, chief of the Information Technology Services Division, to get in touch with other call centers based in this city.

The latest result released by the city government’s Uswag Molecular Laboratory on Thursday showed that 89 employees of HGS, a call center in this city’s Mandurriao District, have tested positive for Covid-19.

Of the 89 infections, 31 were from the March 17 results released by the laboratory and the rest were from the partial results released as of noon of March 18.

Of the cases, 63 are residents of the city, and 26 are from the province.

The 17th and 18th floors of the building occupied by HGS have been quarantined for disinfection while contact tracing is currently ongoing.

The mayor also called on for the continued compliance and observance of minimum health protocols to prevent transmission.

Iloilo City hosts 45 business process outsourcing or call center companies, including small companies employing five to 10 workers. (PNA)


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