BY NOEL TALACAY
The Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT3) yesterday said it will temporarily suspend its operations for five days starting today, July 7, following a spike in the number of its personnel who tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Transportation undersecretary Timothy Batan said the temporary suspension will be from July 7 to 11 to make way for the testing of all MRT3 employees.
“Gagawin po natin ‘yan dahil sa gusto po natin matapos ‘yung tinatawag natin na swab testing o RT-PCR testing ng lahat ng ating tauhan, lahat ng ating MRT3 personnel (We are doing this because we want to test all our MRT3 personnel,” Batan said in a virtual briefing.
Batan said the suspension may be faster or longer than five days depending on the result of the swab testing to be conducted on the workers.
The management of MRT3 has earlier disclosed that 186 of its personnel have been infected with the disease. Of the number, 169 are depot personnel, while 17 are MRT-3 workers composed of 11 ticket sellers – four from North Avenue, five from Cubao, one in Kamuning, one reserved; one nurse from Taft, three train drivers, and two control center personnel.
Testing has yet to be done on 1,507 station and depot workers.
Because of reduced operations due to the high number of infected workers, the MRT3 yesterday deployed only eleven trains out of the 16 to 19 trains that service the EDSA route every day.
MRT-3 director Michael Capati said to prevent the spread of the virus, management is now implementing intensified health and safety protocols, which includes a five-minute disinfection hustle inside its trains at the end stations in North Avenue and Taft Avenue, and the frequent sanitizing of touched surfaces inside the train, which includes hand straps, handrails, and seats.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque assured the public that measures will be adopted to ensure that passengers are not exposed to the infected train personnel.
The MRT serves 63,000 passengers daily.
“Kung may pangangailangan, gagawin naman po iyan although iyon nga po, huling rinig ko 63,000 ang gumagamit niyan under GCQ sa Metro Manila (If it is needed, that may be done although last I heard, there are 63,000 people using it under the GCQ in Metro Manila),” Roque said. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
