By Noreen Jazul and Alex San Juan Fifteen depot personnel of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) have tested positive for the coronavirus dsiease 2019 (COVID-19). All 15 workers were from the rail line’s maintenance provider Sumitomo-MHI-TESPI, the MRT management said. As a safety measure, MRT said the Philippine Coast Guard will conduct a rapid antibody testing on all its depot personnel today, June 18. “The health and safety of our employees and passengers are primordial to us. All employees will be required to undergo testing. We have been conducting disinfection in the depot, at stations, and in trains. We will continue to implement these and other measures to contain the spread of the virus in our workplace, stations, and trains,” said MRT-3 Director for Operations Michael J. Capati. Workers who have been found positive in the rapid antibody testing will then undergo Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction RT-PCR confirmatory testing and self-quarantine. The MRT management said it has and will continuously conduct depot-wide disinfection, and will also implement additional health and safety protocols “to further limit the interaction between depot and station personnel.” “We have the best interest of our passengers and employees at heart. We want to immediately address the situation to prevent more people from contracting the disease,” Capati said. On June 14, a depot personnel of Sumitomo-MHI-TESPI tested positive for COVID-19. After the conduct of contact tracing, 32 depot personnel were identified to have made contact with the worker. Out of the 32, 14 depot personnel were confirmed to have COVID-19. “Contact tracing is ongoing for the 14 COVID-19 positive depot personnel. Identified contacts have been advised to undergo self-quarantine and RT-PCR testing before going back to work at the MRT-3 depot,” the MRT management said. “Other measures that continue to be implemented pursuant to DOH guidelines include screening for symptoms for every entry into MRT-3 facilities, mandatory wearing of face masks, alternative work arrangements to reduce the number of people in the workplace, regular disinfection of facilities, setting up of sanitation stations, hygiene promotion, and physical distancing at the workplace,” they added. All railway systems in the capital region have been allowed to resume its operations at limited capacity following its transition to general community quarantine on June 1, after the over two months of hard lockdown. Meanwhile, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) suspended on Wednesday all work and transactions in Central Office and Licensing Office in Quezon City after 12 of their staff tested positive for COVID-19 following a rapid antibody testing. LTO Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante said its Central Office along East Avenue and its Quezon City Licensing Office will be closed until Friday for disinfection and will resume operations on Monday, June 22. The LTO also ordered all employees in its two offices to undergo mandatory testing for COVID-19 on Thursday, while disinfecting the premises.