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| The Subic Bay Metropolitan Administration (SBMA) orders on Monday, the mass testing of workers of the Subic Bay International Terminal Corporation. This, after 14 of its workers have been tested positive of COVID-19. (Photo from: SBMA) |
[아시아뉴스통신=페이 기자] A total of 14 workers of the container terminal company here have been tested positive of COVID-19 since July 30, prompting the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to order hundreds of contacted workers to undergo mass testing. This was the pronouncement of SBMA chairman and administrator Wilma T. Eisma on Monday. "It was either mass testing by RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) or shutdown of terminal operations—that’s the only choice left if we wanted to contain the outbreak,” she told media here.
Eisma said the SBMA also required disinfection of the whole terminal complex, closure of engineering and maintenance areas subject to focused disinfection, and daily in-house disinfection. “Thankfully, the SBITC (Subic Bay International Terminal Corporation) management was very cooperative in our strategy to contain the spread, as we knew that closure is a last resort because testing is the key to preventing the spread and that the Red Cross lab at our doorstep makes for fast turnaround for results,” she added.
SBMA has ordered SBITC, operator of the new container terminal here, to have all their employees tested for COVID-19. SBITC president Roberto Locsin responded with the assurance that all other personnel working in the container terminal will undergo RT-PCR test. These include a total of 238 shift workers, port users, security personnel, canteen staff, and even SBMA checkers.
Based on the contact tracing records received by the SBMA Public Health and Safety Department (PHSD), at least 50 employees have been identified as close contacts of the 14 workers earlier tested positive of Covid-19 infection at SBITC. The PHSD said that after the first worker tested positive on Aug. 4, tracing identified 15 contacts in the workforce.
