The Department of Transportation (DOTr) sees no reason to temporarily suspend the operations of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) despite the recent COVID-19 infections among its personnel.
The DOTr announced late Wednesday evening that the MRT-3 depot in Quezon City has been placed under “enhanced access control” since last week after 42 employees tested positive for COVID-19, with one confirmed fatality.
Transportation Secretary also said on Thursday that MRT General Manager Rodolfo Garcia is now in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital after he tested positive for the dreaded coronavirus disease, while MRT director Michael Capati also got infected but is said to be recovering.
“We are not eyeing suspension of operations at this time,” DOTr Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John Batan told reporters in an interview, citing that the infections are only confined at the depot.
Thirty-six of the 42 affected employees are office personnel, while six are maintenance workers of Sumitomo-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
“Wala pa tayong imported na COVID-19 cases sa ating mga stations kung kaya’t sa kasalukuyan ay regular operations pa tayo ng MRT-3 (We do not have imported COVID-19 cases in our stations yet that is why for now, we still have regular operations in the MRT-3),” he added.
Batan said the railway sector is coordinating with the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), the agency that administered the swab testing among its employees, as well as with the Philippine Genome Center (PGC), to determine the type of COVID-19 variant that hit the MRT employees.
As for the implemented “enhanced access control” in the depot, he explained that only “necessary and essential” workers who yielded negative swab test results through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) can report to their office in Quezon City.
He said the DOTr is monitoring their COVID-19 swab testing among its employees and operational adjustments will only be made if deemed necessary for the health and safety of passengers.