By Shirley Matias Pizarro
BALANGA CITY, BATAAN — A state-of-the-art thermal scanner is being used by the Metro Bataan Development Authority (MBDA) team in the conduct of their surveillance and fever-monitoring as part of the province’s fight against the spread of the deadly coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
MBDA General Manager Christopher F. Pizarro said the high-end thermal scanner allowed his team to scan a bus-full of passengers in just one minute at the checkpoint located at the Bataan-Pampanga boundary in Barangay Balsik, Hermosa town.
“This kind of scanner is faster, more efficient and safer to use since it doesn’t require close contact with the person being scanned,” Pizarro said.
Pizarro said the scanner was loaned to MBDA by officials of the 1Bataan Integrated Transport System led by Joseph Loyola. It will be recalled that Ferry Terminal schedules have been suspended in the wake of the lockdown imposed in Metro Manila last Sunday.
MBDA is part of the inter-agency task force called Bataan Outbreak Response Team, specifically created to conduct surveillance, fever-monitoring and mapping out high-risk areas in the entire province due to movement and overcrowding of people.
The emergency response team, which was activated a few hours after the confirmation of the province’s first COVID-19 positive patient, last Sunday, now conducts checkpoints in five areas in Bataan namely: Bataan-Pampanga boundary, SCTEX-Hermosa, SBMA-Morong Gate, Tipo-Dinalupihan, and Florida-San Simon
At least four Bataan-inbound passengers since Sunday night have been found to have high temperature and were brought to the Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) for assessment.