Marikina mayor requires rapid mass testing for workers before returning to work

Marikina City Mayor Marcelino Teodoro has mandated that private companies subject their employees to rapid mass testing before resuming work under a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).

The primary goal of this directive is to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 in workplaces and ensure the safety of all workers as economic activities begin to restart.

Mayor Teodoro emphasized the need to balance health and safety with the resumption of economic activities after a prolonged lockdown.

The Marikina shoe industry, which employs approximately 6,000 workers, along with other industrial sectors with about 8,000 workers, will see changes in factory configurations to avoid cross-contamination.

Rapid testing is being employed as a strategy to quickly test thousands of employees, and positive results will lead to immediate isolation and confirmatory PCR testing.

The local government has already conducted rapid testing on nearly 1,000 employees from three companies, including C-Point, Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp., and Armscor Global Defense, Inc.