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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider BI closed anew after 3 employees test positive for COVID-19

BI closed anew after 3 employees test positive for COVID-19

Published Jul 26, 2020 11:12 am

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) main office building in Intramuros, Manila will again be closed for disinfection on Monday and Tuesday after three employees tested positive for COVID-19. 
 
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said disinfecting the BI main building is necessary to protect not only the bureau's personnel but also the transacting public.
 
Morente said that during the two-day suspension of operations all BI employees at the main office will be required to undergo rapid anti-body test and that those with positive results will be subjected to confirmatory swab test for the virus.
 
The BI chief added that he approved a recommendation of BI Deputy Commissioner Aldwin Alegre, head of the BI COVID-19 Task Force that all officials and employees at the main office be made to undergo rapid test every month.
 
"Given the high number of people who troop to our main building everyday to transact business, we have to take all precautionary measures to prevent the transmission of this virus in our office premises," Morente said.
 
Meanwhile, immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) will undergo another round of rapid test for COVID-19 next month as part of efforts to curb the spread of the virus among the bureau's frontliners.
 
"We will also instruct our terminal heads in the other international ports to again coordinate with the local government units (LGUs) for the conduct of another rapid testing for our frontliners outside Metro Manila," BI port operations chief Grifton Medina said.
 
Medina said the BI employees' union Buklod-CID and Immigration Officers Association of the Philippines (IOAP) are actively involved in efforts to facilitate the routine COVID-19 testing of BI frontliners.

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