Five more PPA personnel test positive for COVID-19

The number of employees at the head office of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) who tested positive for COVID-19 has risen to 45 after five more were infected, the agency’s chief said Tuesday.

“Kaninang umaga, may nadagdag na limang na-detect na positibo sa COVID antigen testing dito lamang ‘yan sa head office natin sa Maynila at pati sa Port of Manila,” PPA General Manager Jay Daniel Santiago said during the Laging Handa briefing.

(This morning, there are additional five personnel detected to have tested positive for COVID after an antigen test, here in the head office in Manila as well as in the Port of Manila.)

On Monday, PPA reported that a total of 40 employees at its head office have tested positive for COVID-19. 

Santiago said the workers who tested positive for the disease, including the additional five personnel, were already isolated and are all asymptomatic.

Nonetheless, he said that if within five days one or some of the COVID-positive workers show symptoms they will be subjected to a confirmatory RT-PCR testing.

The PPA general manager said that operations of the agency are not interrupted since most of the infected workers are office-based and are already working from home.

“Ina-assure natin na hindi kasama sa operations ang karamihan sa mga nagpositibo,” Santiago said.

(We assure that most of those who tested positive are not part of the operations.)

“They’re not involved in direct interface sa mga pasahero at port users (passengers and port users),” he added. — RSJ, GMA News