MANILA, Philippines — Two call center agents of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) were found positive for the coronavirus disease, forcing the agency to reroute the country’s emergency hotline 911 calls to its local call centers. In a statement on Sunday, DILG Undersecretary and spokesman Jonathan Malaya said all the agency’s emergency telecommunicators (ETC) which includes 10 agents of the Department of Health’s COVID Hotline, are under home quarantine. Currently, the 911 National Call Center (NCC) is being disinfected, and contact tracing for the infected personnel is ongoing. Malaya said they are eyeing to partially open the 911 National Call Center by Sept. 7 and fully operate by Sept. 16. In 2019, 911 calls reached 18.482 million.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer August 30, 2020 09:22 UTC