Bacolod shuts down call center due to virus surge

BACOLOD CITY—This city has suspended the operations of Transcom Bacolod, a business process outsourcing company, to allow thorough disinfection after at least 41 of its employees tested positive for Covid-19. City Administrator Em Ang said the Transcom employees were found positive for Covid-19 in swab tests conducted from Jan. 23 to Jan. 29 but the company still allowed an infected employee to report for work despite being informed of the results. Transcom has registered for the Bacolod Contact Tracing (BaC-Trac) system but has not been using it. “That means they have not been scanning the QR (quick response) codes of persons entering the building,” Ang said. “Imagine the contact tracing nightmare they caused. We have to do it manually [now],” she said. Aside from the closure order, the city would also impose a fine on Transcom for failure to comply with the BaC-Trac requirement, Ang added. —CARLA P. GOMEZ