After news that a new cluster of cases has popped up at at a BPO facility in Kingston, there are rumours that the country is heading for a total lockdown.

“We can restart businesses, but we do not know how to resurrect the dead,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said.

Last night, Holness warned that even though significant investment has been made in the BPO sector, the Government was not averse to taking extreme measures in relation to it.

He also said all BPOs in St Catherine have been closed. Holness further cautioned other operators elsewhere against hiring individuals from the affected entity.

The prime minister, who said intelligence had revealed that individuals have already started job hunting in other areas such as Hanover, noted that operators who hire these individuals would be sanctioned.

He said the affected workers have all been placed under a 14-day quarantine and cannot, during that time, be employed by anyone else.

A cluster of 52 cases of the COVID-19 virus emerging from the call centre led to a total lockdown of the parish of St Catherine by the Government on Wednesda