SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — A spike in the number of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases was recorded in this free port as the virus spread to a container terminal and a casino here, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said on Friday.
Mass testing at Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. (SBITC) yielded 28 more cases among the company’s workers, said Wilma Eisma, SBMA chair and administrator.
Earlier, 14 SBITC workers contracted the virus from a fellow worker, prompting the SBMA to conduct extensive tracing and testing to contain the transmission.
The SBITC management was forced to temporarily close some of its offices and facilities for disinfection, Eisma said.
The operation of the casino inside the free port was also suspended for three days since Wednesday after one of its employees contracted the virus.
Casino closed
Eisma said a 55-year-old female employee of SBMA and a free port resident were added to the agency’s list of COVID-19 cases, which stood at 48 as of Friday.
In Zambales province, COVID-19 has infected 21 workers of a solar power plant in Masinloc town, according to Dr. Noel Bueno, provincial health director.
Bueno said the infection had forced Power Zaver to temporarily stop its operations on Thursday. The outbreak raised the number of new cases in Zambales to 103 as of Friday. —JOANNA ROSE AGLIBOT