The Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced that its main office building in Intramuros, Manila will again be closed for disinfection on Monday and Tuesday after three employees tested positive for COVID-19.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said disinfecting the BI main building is necessary to protect not only the Bureau's personnel but the transacting public as well.

Morente disclosed that during the two-day suspension of operations all BI employees at the main office will be required to undergo rapid anti-body test and that those with positive results will be subjected to confirmatory swab test for the virus.

BI Chief further said that he approved a recommendation of BI Deputy Commissioner Aldwin Alegre, BI COVID-19 Task Force Chair, henceforth, all officials and employees at the main office be made to undergo rapid test every month.

"Given the high number of people who troop to our main building everyday to transact business, we have to take all precautionary measures to prevent the transmission of this virus in our office premises," Morente said.

He added that periodic disinfection of the facility will be conducted to help prevent virus infections.

Meanwhile, immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) will undergo another round of rapid test for COVID-19 next month as part of efforts to curb the spread of the virus among the Bureau's frontliners.

"We will also instruct our terminal heads in the other international ports to again coordinate with the local government units (LGUs) in their turfs for the conduct of another rapid testing for our frontliners outside Metro Manila," BI Port Operations Acting Chief Grifton Medina said.

Medina said the BI employees' union Buklod-CID and Immigration Officers Association of the Philippines (IOAP) are actively involved in efforts to facilitate the routine COVID-19 testing of BI frontliners. DMS