MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has decided to temporarily close its Port of Manila teller booth, as well as Land Bank’s South Harbor branch near Gate 1, after it was confirmed that a COVID-19 patient had recently visited the bank.
BOC said in a statement on Monday that these offices are closed until further notice.
“The Land bank of the Philippines (LPB) South Harbor Branch and BOC-Port of Manila (POM) Tellering Booth are temporarily closed today, April 13, 2020 until further notice due to concerns about health risks posed by COVID-19 Positive Patient identified in the South Harbor Branch located in Gate 1, Port Area, Manila and the enforcement of quarantine measures,” BOC said.
BOC explained that Port of Manila transactions can be done through Land Bank’s Manila International Container Port (MICP) branch.
“In view of these, all POM transactions shall be done through the Land Bank – MICP Branch. Moreover, Land Bank ATMs and e-banking channels remain available,” the bureau noted.
Manila and the rest of Luzon are still under the ECQ, which is slated to last until April 30, due to the rising COVID-19 cases. Due to the ECQ, work has been suspended for both private and public sectors, except for those in frontline services like hospitals, banks, and government’s skeleton force.
DOH officials said that as of Monday, there are 4,932 infected patients — 315 of which have already died while at least 242 have recovered.
Worldwide, over 1.8 million individuals have been infected, while 114,063 have died from the disease and 421,500 have recovered from it.