40 DOJ personnel test positive for COVID

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice is considering suspending work after 40 DOJ employees tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an official said yesterday.

Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the employees tested positive in the rapid antibody test and will be subjected “to a more reliable swab test.”

The number of DOJ employees who tested positive jumped from an initial three – two security guards and a maintenance worker – to 40. The DOJ has 700 to 750 employees.

“We’ve disinfected the premises over the weekend, and we’ll do it all over again. We will also decide if we need to suspend all work on site in the meantime,” Guevarra said.

Guevarra said they have instructed the first three personnel who tested positive for COVID-19 not to report to work and to undergo a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test to validate the result. The rapid antibody tests were done on June 5.

The DOJ also asked the Chinese General Hospital to conduct rapid testing on their other employees yesterday and today.

Guevarra said the DOJ employees who tested positive for COVID-19 could have acquired the virus outside the DOJ.

DOJ Undersecretary Markk Perete said those found positive of COVID-19 during the rapid antibody tests would be subjected to a 14-day quarantine and then be required to take RT-PCR tests.

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