MAS issues statement on COVID-19

Tuesday, 20 October 2020 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Apparel giant MAS yesterday issued the following statement on the discovery of several employees infected with COVID-19:

At MAS, the health and safety of our employees and stakeholders will always remain our highest priority.

Unfortunately, during these unprecedented times, despite all the safety protocols we have in place, we have received reports of a few of our employees – residents of the high-risk areas – who have been infected by COVID-19. Therefore, we are committed to supporting these individuals and their families and ensuring they return to good health as soon as possible.

In order to ensure the wellbeing of all our employees and stakeholders, together with the Government Health Authorities, we carried out the following protocols at all our facilities:

We took immediate action to close all our facilities in police curfew areas on 4 October including MAS Active Sleekline in Nittambuwa, since the first alerts of the Minuwangoda cluster.

All high-risk individuals who were based in, or otherwise associated with those facilities were requested to self-quarantine and are undergoing PCR tests.

Unfortunately, these tests identified a few infected employees and they are currently receiving treatment at State Hospitals and we will continue to monitor their condition closely.

We have assisted the authorities with contact tracing of individuals that have been identified as close contacts of those infected employees. These contacts will also now undergo PCR testing in collaboration with Government health authorities.

All facilities that have remained closed since 4 October will undergo a rigorous risk assessment with the health authorities before re-opening.

On-site protocols for social distancing, sanitisation and hygiene measures are in place and will be strictly enforced once operations re-commence.

In line with the recommendations of the authorities we have also commenced PCR testing at all other operating MAS locations across the country. At this time all results have been negative, but we do understand that this situation is dynamic and have issued guidelines to our teams in the eventuality that individuals that have been infected are identified.

We will continue to monitor the situation proactively in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and take necessary action to prevent the spread of the virus within our facilities.A 24-hour COVID Helpline has been set up for internal staff to receive advice, assistance and have their grievances addressed during this difficult time. We will provide timely updates on the situation in full transparency to prevent the spread of unchecked and false information, and humbly request that we all respect the privacy of the diagnosed and exposed individuals.