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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 18,310 gov't workers infected with COVID

18,310 gov't workers infected with COVID

Published Aug 20, 2020 03:45 pm

Nearly 8,000 government employees were infected with COVID-19 between Aug. 5 and 14, Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Ferdinand Gaite bared in a virtual press conference Thursday.

A chart shown by Gaite indicated that during the nine-day span, the number of COVID-positive government employees balooned from 10,344 to 18,310. He cited the Civil Service Commission (CSC) as the source of the data.

"Mismo sa hanay ng mga government workers, nakakabahala 'yung istatistika. In a matter of nine days, ganyan kalaki ang bilang at tulad ng binanggit ng marami, ito ay doon pa lamang sa na-report (The statistics have been worrisome in the ranks of government workers themselves. In a matter of nine days, the number grew by that much and like what many have said, this only covers the cases that have been reported)," the opposition solon said.

He added that a total of 205 government offices have been locked down as of Aug. 14, up by 52 from the 153 total last Aug.  5.

Gaite said these figures reflect govenment's "mismanagement" of the COVID-19 pandemic. "Talagang nakakabahala 'yung sitwasyon at nakakaalarma (The situation is really worrisome and alarming)."

As per the data the congressman shared, the lion's share of the 18,310 confirmed COVID cases came from the National Capital Region (NCR), with 13,340 cases. Rounding up the top five is Region 7, with 2,570 cases; the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), 829; Region 4, 780; and Region 3, 290.

During the nine-day span, the NCR that posted the biggest increase in confirmed cases (5,958). Out of all the regions, only Regions 1, 11, and 12 posted a downtrend in infections during the period.

Gaite and the rest of the Makabayan bloc have repeatedly called on the national government to conduct mass testing and contact-tracing as a way to somehow control the contagion.

The CSC was asked to corroborate the figures but the Public Assistance and Information Office said that "there is no official data yet as of the moment." 

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