27 DOLE employees contract COVID-19

FILE DOLE main office

MANILA, Philippines — Twenty-seven workers of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) have contracted COVID-19, Assistant Secretary Dominique Tutay said on Thursday.

“Nakakalungkot po talaga ‘yung sitwasyon kasi nung Lunes ang naitala lang po namin ay tatlo pero hanggang kahapon po ay mayroon na kaming 27 at may mga nagpapa-test pa rin po hanggang ngayon, may mga nag-positive na rin po,” she said during the Laging Handa briefing.

(The situation is saddening because just last Monday, we recorded only three cases. Yesterday, we already had 27 cases. Testing is ongoing and there are still some who got positive results.)

Tutay said that testing of workers is ongoing, while disinfection of office premises are being done to prevent further COVID-19 transmission.

“So, una po ‘yung disinfection, ginawa po natin nung Lunes mismo tapos magdi-disinfect po ulit kami if not tomorrow, over the weekend po,” the labor official said.

(First, we disinfected last Monday and we are going to disinfect again if not tomorrow, over the weekend.)

According to Tutay, DOLE is currently implementing a 30-percent on-site work capacity and other workers are on a work-from-home arrangement.

“’Yung atin pong work arrangement po ay nasa 30-percent capacity but lahat naman po ng ating mga manggagawa ay naka-work from home at pwede pong gawin ‘yung kanilang mga tungkulin,” she noted.

(Our work arrangement is at 30-percent capacity but workers are on a work-from-home setup and they can still perform their duties.)

On Thursday, the Philippines logged 10,776 new COVID-19 infections, raising the overall case count to 2,871,745.

EDV