News Briefs

Sutherland employee tests negative for COVID-19

AN EMPLOYEE from a Sutherland call centre site who was tested for the coronavirus has returned a negative result.

Doug Almond, Sutherland’s vice-president and country head for Jamaica, revealed the result yesterday, adding that the company will now be considering the resumption of some services.

On April 15, the business process outsourcing (BPO) firm announced the closure of its South Camp Road branch because of a possible COVID-19 case there. Almond also said the employee was a close contact of a worker at the Alorica call centre in Portmore, St Catherine, who has tested positive for the virus.

“We are reviewing the logistics of reopening. The national BPO lockdown allows for a limited number of employees to continue to come into sites to continue essential work, and some of the essential services Sutherland provides are done from our South Camp Road location,” Almond said in a statement.

At least 185 Alorica workers have tested positive for the virus. The Alorica outbreak triggered the lockdown of St Catherine and the closure of all BPO sites for 14 days, starting April 22.

JPS shareholder EWP donates 7,500 test kits

A MAJOR shareholder in the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), East West Power Korea (EWP), has donated two diagnostic machines and 7,500 COVID-19 testing kits, through the JPS Foundation, to the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI). The donation will more than quadruple the UHWI’s testing capacity, moving from 200 per day to 986 per day.

JPS Chairman Bok Hoa Jeong said he was pleased that EWP was able to make such a significant contribution to the well-being of the people of Jamaica. He said that South Korea had successfully managed the spread of the coronavirus and was eager to assist others.

JPS President and CEO Emanuel DaRosa expressed his pleasure at the progress this would mean for the health sector.

“We applaud the Government of Jamaica on its efforts to manage the COVID-19 crisis so far,” he said, “and we look forward to an early flattening of the curve as more tests are expedited,” he pointed out.

The donation is valued at approximately US$200,000, or roughly J$28 million.

Two held in suspected pumpkin theft

TWO MEN have been arrested in what police believe was an attempt to steal more than 400 pounds of pumpkin from a farm in Bernard Lodge in St Catherine on Monday.

Reports are that about 9:45 p.m., officers were on foot patrol in the area when four men were seen leaving a farm with bags.

On the approach of the police, the men dropped the bags and ran. Two of them were, however, caught.

The bags were searched and the pumpkins were found inside.

The men, whose identities are being withheld pending further investigations, were arrested after they failed to properly account for the produce.