Over 300 Taguig construction workers test positive for COVID-19

Taguig City government announced Thursday at least 327 construction workers in the city tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

“These areas are a construction site in Bonifacio Global City, where 327 of the 691 workers who underwent testing tested positive for COVID-19; and four areas in Lower Bicutan, where 111 out of the 2,104 tests conducted so far tested positive. We acted fast, and these areas were immediately contained,” Mayor Lino Cayetano said in the city’s official Facebook page.

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Cayetano said the recent spike in the number of COVID-19 cases is attributed to the LGU’s aggressive testing and contact tracing done in areas that were placed on a localized lockdown.

The mayor added Taguig is one of the cities leading in testing and having done more than 12,000 tests and having covered 2.16 percent of the population. Taguig testing program includes 31 testing centers, two drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites, with 36 contact tracing teams, and a strong partnership with the national government testing facility.

Also read: 17 workers infected in BGC Taguig construction site

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Taguig also has five quarantine facilities and aims to open a 500-bed mega-quarantine facility at the Lakeshore area in Brgy. Lower Bicutan. The city seeks to open this facility in a few weeks slowly.

“More cases are expected as the city government continues to aggressively test. The target is for 10 percent of the city population to be tested before the year ends,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano said cases would continue to increase, but “localized lockdown is key to transition to a new normal.” He added the LGU does not want to place the whole city or barangay under quarantine.

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“As much as possible, we want to further localize lockdowns so we can be more specific about the areas we will investigate if there is unidentified mass transmission on the street or cluster of homes or buildings,” he said.

The Taguig government managed to close and quarantine the BGC construction site, begin contact tracing, testing, and treatment within 24 hours.

“The Safe City Task Force, which sees the different city departments working together to craft policies and disseminate information relative to COVID-19, continues to work 24/7, for instance,” Cayetano added.