COVID-19 cases in Immigration bureau reach 78

August 27, 2020 – 9:48am

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration said Thursday that 78 of its employees have contracted the novel coronavirus, as the government office implements more preventive measures to deter the spread of COVID-19.

In a statement, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said that 29 of the COVID-19 infected employees have already recovered and only one was admitted to the hospital.

Meanwhile, 44 employees were asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and are isolated in quarantine facilities while undergoing treatment. The BI has not recorded any fatality due to the coronavirus.

Doctor Marites Ambray, BI Medical Section chief, also reported that 76 BI staff earlier asked to undergo home quarantine after interacting with COVID-19 positive persons. Of these, 58 were already cleared and allowed to return to work.

There remain 18 employees still under home quarantine.

Due to the rising coronavirus cases at the bureau, the Administrative Division ordered the mandatory wearing of face shields, on top of face masks, for all employees and officials when reporting to their respective offices.

Under the directive, employees who are not wearing both face mask and face shield will not be allowed to work and be sent home.

Meanwhile, the BI has been conducting regular disinfection in its main building in Intramuros, Manila since July as a preventive measure against the virus, considering the daily large flow of people transacting business in the office.

COVID-19 cases in the country breached the 200,000th mark on Wednesday with 5,277 new infections. National caseload as of August 25 was recorded at 202,361. Of these, 65,762 are deemed active cases; 133,460 are deemed recovered while deaths climbed to 3,137. —  Kristine Joy Patag

SOURCE: https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/08/27/2038200/covid-19-cases-immigration-bureau-reach-78