Globe starts weekly rapid antibody testing of frontline employees

MANILA, Philippines — As the government eases quarantine restrictions, Globe Telecom begins the weekly rapid antibody testing of all its frontliners to ensure that both the workforce and stakeholders are protected from COVID-19.

At least 15% of the company’s over 8,000 employees have been working on the frontline as critical skeletal force since the beginning of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in mid-March.

An additional 5% are returning to their posts as Globe starts reopening its stores and fielding more personnel for network build, expansion, and maintenance.

“The safety of our employees and the public is of paramount importance to us. That is why we have decided to test our frontline workers on a weekly basis using the rapid antibody testing kits. If any of the tests yield positive, then we are going to do a more extensive test, ” said Renato Jiao, chief human resource officer at Globe.

Globe is working in close coordination with Ayala Healthcare Holdings Inc. (AC Health) in screening its employees and those of its service contractors.

The test kits, which passed AC Health standards, use a person’s blood sample to measure antibodies that the body produces as response to fighting an infection. Results are available in half an hour.

The move is also in support of the efforts by Task Force T3 (Test, Trace, Treat) to ramp up testing operations and healthcare capacity in the country in order to save lives and livelihoods during the pandemic. 

Task T3, which AC Health is part of, is a public-private partnership created to help the government locate, isolate, and care for COVID-19 carriers to keep communities safe and manage the transmission of the virus.

Aside from rapid testing, Globe will continue to observe strict health protocols as mandated by government guidelines upon those who are returning to work.

For more information, visit the website the Globe Press Room at https://www.globe.com.ph/about-us/newsroom.html. You can also check out their social media pages on Twitter: @talk2GLOBE and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/globeph.