45 DPWH employees in Bulacan test positive for COVID-19

CITY OF MALOLOS – At least 45 employees of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Bulacan province have tested positive for COVID-19, authorities said Wednesday, Jan. 12.

DPWH 1st District Chief Henry Alcantara has prohibited people from visiting their office to contain the infection, although he said its operation would continue.

The DPWH employees tested positive for the viral disease after being subjected to antigen testing that Alcantara ordered on Monday.

In Pandi town, 40 employees of the municipal hall had also tested positive for COVID-19 based on a mass antigen testing ordered by Mayor Enrico Roque.

Five regional trial courts (RTC) in the province were also placed on a lockdown for 10 to 12 days starting Monday after some employees tested positive for COVID-19.

Bulacan RTC Branches 11 and 104, which share room facilities, will be closed until Jan. 20 for disinfection after one of their employees, who last reported to work on Jan. 4, tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 7.

Branches 14 and 6, which also share an office and facilities, will be closed until Jan. 21 after an employee of Branch 14 contracted the viral disease on Jan. 8.

Branch 103 will be closed until Jan .22 after two of its staff, who reported for work between Jan. 3 to 7, showed symptoms of the disease and eventually tested positive on Jan. 8.

Tracing involving the contacts of the four virus-stricken court employees had begun and they were advised to undergo reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction tests. All other employees of the five branches were directed to undergo home quarantine.

But Executive Judge Corazon Domingo-Ranola of RTC Branch 10 assured the public that transactions and services in the five branches would remain accessible through official hotline numbers and remote video conferencing.

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