 |
| POLO's advisory saying it will be closed from today, and will resume services on Aug 9 |
Consul General Raly Tejada has asked all personnel at the Philippine
Overseas Labor Office and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to undergo
coronavirus testing after Polo shut down today on being informed that an employment agency who visited its offices has been
confirmed to be Covid-19 positive.
According to inside sources, the infected agency liaison
staff visited the Polo office on the 18th floor of the YF Life Tower
on an undetermined date and met with some officers or staff.
Among those the agency staff likely to have met during the visit was Assistant Labor Attaché Angelica Sunga, who attends to agency matters at Polo, or staff members manning the service counters.
But to be safe, ConGen Tejada has asked all the staff in Polo
and Owwa to get tested.
“I’ve asked them to get tested for good measure and to
follow CHP [the Hong Kong Health Department’s Centre for Health Protection]
who, I believe, is advising Polo now,” ConGen Tejada said.
But, he added, “To be clear, walang Polo or taga-Owwa na
maysakit.”
 |
| The infected agency staff is reported to have visited Polo's service counters on the 18th floor |
ConGen Tejada also said he became aware of the problem only
last night, after Labor Attache Melchor Dizon advised him that they would be
closing down their offices because of the incident.
 | |
|
An announcement posted on the Polo Facebook page said its
offices will be closed from today, Aug 3 until Aug 6 “for disinfection and
other emergency maintenance procedures.” Operations will resume this Sunday,
Aug. 9.
A check with Department of Health and the Centre for Health
Protection did not yield any information about the supposed link to Polo of an
infected patient.
A spokesman said he could not say for sure if contact
tracing has been done on the patient, or whether a testing schedule has been
made for Polo staff, saying there were too many cases in Hong
Kong being investigated by CHP.
Records of supposed “infected buildings” showed only one
entry for YF Life Tower, pertaining to a 27-year-old female “resident” of the
building who was confirmed to have Covid-19 on Mar 22. She visited the building
five days earlier.
