The Bacolod City government is temporarily shutting down a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firm following a COVID-19 outbreak, City Administrator Em Ang said tonight, January 31.
Forty-one employees of Transcom Bacolod in Barangay Tangub have tested positive for COVID-19 as of today and contact tracing is still ongoing, said Ang, who is also the Bacolod Emergency Operations Center (EOC) executive director.
She said a 21-year-old male Transcom employee from Barangay Bata tested positive on January 23 for the virus after developing a cough and colds on January 18, and contact tracing was conducted.
Two other Transcom employees also tested positive on January 23, one each on January 25 and 26, two on January 27, seven on January 29, 16 on Saturday, and 11 today, Ang said.
It appears that Transcom did not strictly implement COVID-19 preventive measures and even allowed a confirmed COVID-19 employee to report for work despite being informed of the results, Ang said.
They also found out that although Transcom registered for the Bacolod Contact Tracing (BaCTrac) system, it has not been using it as it has no login history, Ang said. That means they have not been scanning the QR codes of persons entering the building, she said.
The BaCTrac enables the city government to swiftly trace persons who were in the building at the same time as those who were found positive for the virus, she said.
“Imagine the contact tracing nightmare they caused, we have had to do it manually” she said, pointing out they have tested 594 close contacts for the virus.
All close contacts who tested positive are Transcom employees, there were none from their homes, Ang said.
The Bacolod City Legal Office is set to issue an order tonight shutting down TransCom for 24 hours for disinfection, she said, which is the period legally allowed.
Transcom will be fined for failure to comply with the BaCTrac requirement, she said.
However, the fine is only P1,000 for the first offense, P2,500 for the second offense, and P5,000 for the third offense, she said.
She is recommending that the fine be raised to P5,000 for the first offense which is the amount legally allowed, and for every succeeding violation, Ang said.
They have also discovered that several other BPOs have not been using the BaCTrac system.
Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia has directed the police to inspect call centers for compliance, she said.
Meanwhile, she said the Bacolod City government has not enforced stricter rules on persons arriving from Panay yet.
We will observe for another week if the cases in Iloilo continue to rise or not, but will remain guarded, she said.*