The Presidential Broadcast Staff under Radio Television Malacañang (PBS-RTVM) Manila Office was placed on a two-week lockdown after two of its staff were confirmed Covid-19 positive on Tuesday.
RTVM executive director Demic Pabalan said in a statement that aside from the two employees who yielded positive results in their reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction tests, four others had received positive results after undergoing rapid antibody testing.
The lockdown began today, July 28, and will last until Aug. 11.
As a precaution, only personnel assigned to Malacañang’s press briefing were allowed to report for work today.
A private production crew was tapped by Malacañang for Tuesday’s briefing, which was delayed by almost an hour due to lack of manpower.
Since RTVM personnel were “primary contacts” to Covid-19 positive cases, the agency is implementing a “no negative results yielded, no coverage rendered” protocol.
“This is to avoid further and unwarranted transmission of the Covid-19 virus not only among its own personnel but the public as well,” Pabalan said.
As of 1:35 p.m. today, the Presidential Communications Operations Office has recorded 32 Covid-19 cases. John Ezekiel J. Hirro