{"id":260822,"date":"2020-07-08T00:31:34","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T04:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=260822"},"modified":"2020-07-08T00:31:34","modified_gmt":"2020-07-08T04:31:34","slug":"govt-very-careful-mrt-3-passengers-dont-get-covid-19-prrd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/07\/08\/govt-very-careful-mrt-3-passengers-dont-get-covid-19-prrd\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov\u2019t \u2018very careful\u2019 MRT-3 passengers don\u2019t get Covid-19: PRRD"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: EDSA, Mandaluyong, Philippines (Photo: Eugenio Pastoral\/Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo R. Duterte said the government is \u201cvery careful\u201d in ensuring the health and safety of passengers of the Metro Rail Transit – Line 3 (MRT-3).<\/p>\n

Duterte made this statement after MRT-3 operations were temporarily suspended for five days starting Tuesday following the increasing number of personnel, including ticket sellers, who have tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we are very careful\u00a0na pati \u2018yung<\/em>\u00a0(that even) those manning those equipment there will not jeopardize or put you in jeopardy while riding the trains,\u201d he said in a taped public address aired early Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Duterte assured that MRT-3 operations would only resume once a sufficient number of MRT-3 personnel test negative for Covid-19.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that shutting down MRT-3 operations would mean a shortage in public transport but explained that there would be bus augmentation available for passengers.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the MRT-3 management announced the closure that would enable its entire workforce of more than 3,200 employees to undergo testing.<\/p>\n

The MRT-3 management said it would require at least 1,300 workers to be able to resume limited operations.<\/p>\n

The testing for MRT-3 personnel will be conducted by the Philippine Coast Guard at the Palacio de Maynila swabbing center, with assistance from the Philippine Red Cross.<\/p>\n

Transportation Undersecretary TJ Batan earlier allayed concerns among passengers who had used the MRT-3, saying station personnel wore full personal protective equipment (PPE) suits to reduce the risk of infection.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Duterte said he was also \u201chappy to repeat\u201d the news that the government has lifted the ban on non-essential travel and outbound travel of Filipinos.<\/p>\n

He, however, reminded them to ensure that the conditions for outbound travel, such as the submission of confirmed round-trip tickets for those traveling on tourist visas, adequate travel and health insurance to cover rebooking and accommodation expenses if stranded, hospitalization in case of infection, and execution of a declaration acknowledging risks involved in travel are met.<\/p>\n

\u201cMedyo mabigat ito<\/em>\u00a0(This is a little heavy).\u00a0Ewan ko<\/em>\u00a0(I don\u2019t know) how much would be added to your expenses but\u00a0itong<\/em>\u00a0insurance\u00a0mabigat ito na kung<\/em>\u00a0while in travel\u00a0magkasakit ka<\/em>\u00a0(this insurance is heavy in case you get infected while traveling),\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Malaca\u00f1ang announced that non-essential and outbound travel will now be allowed under Resolution 52 of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo R. Duterte said the government is \u201cvery careful\u201d in ensuring the health and safety of passengers of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":232545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260822"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260824,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260822\/revisions\/260824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}