BI requires over 3,000 employees to undergo COVID tests

The Bureau of Immigration will subject more than 3,000 of its employees to rapid testing for COVID-19 after one employee tested positive for the disease. 

“We have decided to make these tests compulsory for all our personnel to further safeguard the health of our employees and the people who transact business in our offices due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the country,” BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said.

Morente said employees who refuse to get tested will not be allowed to report for work. He also encouraged employees to coordinate with their local government units (LGUs) to avail of free rapid testing for frontliners.

 

The immigration chief said accredited liaison officers and representatives of travel agencies and law offices transacting at the BI are also required to undergo rapid testing or they will be barred from entering the bureau’s premises.

 

Morente added that they have previously conducted voluntary rapid testing at their main office in Intramuros, Manila and other satellite offices at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), Clark Airport and at their detention facility in Taguig City.

 

The BI temporarily shut down its office in Intramuros, Manila on Monday after the discovery of the COVID-19 status of one of its employees.