Number of PPA workers with COVID-19 now at 45

MANILA, Philippines — Forty-five workers at the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) have been infected with COVID-19, General Manager Atty. Jay Daniel Santiago said Tuesday.

Santiago said 40 of its workers tested positive for coronavirus, the virus that causes COVID-19, on Monday while five more were confirmed to have contracted the disease on Tuesday.

“‘Yung 40 na kawani ng PPA na na-test nating positive sa COVID-19, kahapon pa lang ay na-isolate na sila at lahat naman sila ay asymptomatic,” Santiago said during the Laging Handa briefing.

(Forty PPA personnel tested positive for COVID-19 and they were isolated yesterday. They are all asymptomatic.)

“Tuloy-tuloy ‘yung ating pagte-test sa ating mga kawani dahil regular natin itong ginagawa sa rotation. Kaninang umaga ay mag dumagdag na limang na-detect na positive sa COVID-19 antigen testing at patuloy pa rin ang ating pagte-test sa ating kasamahan sa PPA,” he added.

(We are continuously testing our personnel and we are regularly doing that for our rotation. This morning, five more tested positive for COVID-19 and we will continue testing our personnel in the PPA.)

Santiago said the workers are from PPA’s head office as well as in Port of Manila.

Metro Manila is placed under the stricter Alert Level 3 starting until January 15 amid the “exponential” spike of COVID-19 cases in the region.

JPV