Second Alorica call centre employee tests positive for COVID-19

Damion Mitchell, Integration Editor

A second employee of the Alorica call centre in Portmore, St Catherine has tested positive for the coronavirus.

The employee, a 19 year-old male from Clarendon was listed among the two confirmed cases on Saturday.

The first, a 21-year-old female from St Catherine, was confirmed as a positive case on Friday.

In the meantime, Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says more than 60 Alorica call centre workers have so far been tested and hundreds more are to be assessed.

The outfit employees around 400 workers.

Speaking on Sunday on Radio Jamaica's current affairs review programme, That's A Rap, Tufton also addressed reports that call centres have not been consistently following coronavirus prevention guidelines.

He said that would be of concern to the Government and there will be monitoring to ensure that workers are protected in what he called a very important industry.

Meanwhile, in a memo to staff on Sunday, Alorica said the Portmore facility would be closed for another 14 days and all employees sent home for self-quarantine.

The company also said it is aggressively working with the Health Ministry to stop the spread of the virus.

In an earlier memo, Alorica had told employees that it would be carrying out deep cleaning and sanitising of the facilities.

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