Subic container terminal suffers COVID-19 outbreak

SAN ANTONIO, ZAMBALES — Fourteen more port workers at the Subic Bay Freeport have tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) confirmed on Thursday, Aug. 20.

The outbreak at the Subic Bay International Terminal Corporation (SBITC) was detected last week when the first 15 workers were stricken with the virus, the agency said.

Every employee at the container terminal was immediately tested, including 238 shift workers, port users, security personnel, canteen staff, and even SBMA checkers.

The new cases arose from the mass testing and have raised the number of total infections in the container terminal to 29.

SBMA Chief Wilma Eisma said the agency offered its community isolation facility at the Subic gymnasium for the care and isolation of infected SBITC workers, during a Wednesday meeting with the Department of Health, the World Health Organization, and SBITC.

“In this situation where we have a rising number of COVID-19 cases among workers in one area at the Freeport, it would be best to quarantine the infected workers in a proper isolation facility, rather than send them home to self-quarantine,” Eisma said.

“This is a situation that could blow bigger. By isolating those who tested positive, we can help arrest local transmission. Otherwise, the contagion would spread and may get out of hand. We don’t want that to happen,” she said.

LZB