The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has seen a major increase in the number of Covid cases for its frontliners assigned at the airports and BI offices.
According to BI Commissioner Jaime Morente, a total of 251 active Covid-19 cases amongst its personnel have been reported to him.
“We’re seeing a record-high number of active Covid cases this past week,” said Morente. “This is alarming and we are doing the best to be able to sustain our operations,” he added.
Morente shared that of the 251 active cases, 135 are assigned at the airport, 91 at the BI’s main office in Intramuros, and 25 come from other BI offices.
A total of 269 airport personnel are also quarantined, awaiting results of their Covid-19 testing.
“This is severely affecting our operations both at the airports as well as in our offices,” said Morente.
Morente bared that he has requested from the Department of Justice (DOJ) the reduction of their on-site work force, following the steep numbers of positive employees. The DOJ is the mother department of the BI and oversees its operations.
BI sees rise in Covid cases for frontliners
“We have also prepared a rapid response team on standby to augment our frontlines to ensure that our services remain unhampered,” he stated.
Morente has likewise ordered the administration of antigen testing amongst its personnel exposed to the virus. He shared that among 38 swabbed this morning at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, 4 were found to be Covid-19 positive.
“We have a Covid-19 task force that ensures the implementation of proactive measures to stop the further spread of this virus in our offices,” said Morente. “This is a major challenge to us right now, and we are hoping to overcome it soon. Please bear with us as we stretch our manpower during this surge. Our frontliners are getting sick, but we will make sure that the delivery of our services continue,” he added.
The number of new COVID-19 cases in the Philippines jumped to 34,021 on Thursday, breaking the all-time high record in new cases in the country’s history.
This is more than the 33,169 cases reported by the Department of Health (DOH) on January 10.
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