MMDA opens 48-bed isolation area for staff

MANILA, Philippines — The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has built an isolation facility for its personnel at its headquarters in Guadalupe, Makati City.

The 800-sqm, 48-bed facility will be divided into two sections—one each for suspect and probable cases.

“This facility will serve as a temporary holding area for our employees who need to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine in accordance with the Department of Health’s (DOH) protocols,” MMDA chair Danilo Lim said in a statement. “An MMDA employee exposed to a COVID-19 case without any symptom will be made to undergo a rapid test at MMDA and when the result is negative, the employee will be admitted to the isolation facility for the mandatory 14-day quarantine period as a precautionary measure per DOH protocol,” he added.

Those with symptoms, according to Lim, would be referred to an appropriate national health facility.

The two sections each have 24 beds, shower rooms, toilets, air-conditioning and Wi-Fi. The MMDA’s COVID-19 committee, in coordination with its medical clinic and administrative services, will be managing the facility.

Considered essential workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, MMDA officials and traffic enforcers still man traffic in roads in the metropolis, putting them at risk of infection.

A month ago, MMDA general manager Jojo Garcia tested positive for the coronavirus after a high-level meeting with other officials. Shortly after, 31 other personnel based at the MMDA’s Metrobase were placed in quarantine after being exposed to a confirmed COVID-19 case. All have since tested negative for the disease.