A portion of the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC) has been closed for 14 days until August 13 for disinfection and preventive decontamination after another city employee was tested positive of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

The City Treasurer’s Office (CTO)-Land Tax Division, located on the ground floor, was sealed off starting July 31, which was a non-working holiday, a day after the test result of the employee, who is now being quarantined in a city government-managed facility, was released.

In a virtual press briefing on Sunday afternoon, Mayor Evelio Leonardia said that some 44 employees of that office have been swabbed and placed under quarantine together in a facility.

They stayed away from their homes to protect their respective families from possible infection, he added.

The mayor advised those with payment transactions at the Land Tax Division to proceed to the CTO-License Division instead.

The BCGC, situated along the Circumferential Road in the eastern part of the city, also houses the offices of the majority of the city departments and offices, including the City Mayor’s Office, Office of the Vice Mayor and the City Council, City Accounting Office, City Assessor’s Office, Office of the Civil Registry, Department of Social Services and Development, Bacolod Housing Authority, among others.

On July 22, operations of the BCGC were suspended to give way for rigid disinfection after it was confirmed that a utility worker of the General Services Office (GSO), who tested positive for Covid-19, had an exposure in the area when he came to process some papers.

Personnel of GSO hold office at the old City Hall building in the downtown area, which has been placed under lockdown until further notice since July 27 for further disinfection.

On the same day, the Bacolod Respiratory Outpatient Center located inside the Bacolod Arts, Youth and Sports (BAYS) Center was also closed while its staff were waiting for the results of their Covid-19 test. (PNA)