(Eagle News) — The Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila is under a two-week lockdown starting today, Aug. 3, and will hold its enrollment of students online.
In a Facebook post, PLM said the lockdown was due to the rising active, probable, and suspected COVID-19 cases within the campus.
PLM said there are currently four confirmed cases, with two recovered patients and one fatality among employees.
There are also three probable and one suspect cases.
The university said the lockdown was also a “prompt response to the call of health care workers for a timeout to give them breathing room after months of manning the front lines of the local COVID-19 fight.”
President Rodrigo Duterte announced on Monday night that Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna and Bulacan would be under the MECQ starting August 4, Tuesday.
“University officials are monitoring their situation as well as that of their close contacts. While records do not suggest that there is community transmission in campus, PLM is taking these steps as precautionary measures,” PLM said.
According to the university, it would allow a very limited number of employees to report to work starting this week, or only those who are deemed as “highly essential and cannot bring home their workload” such as IT and server maintenance staff, disinfection and sanitation crew, and security personnel.
Visitors are not allowed to enter campus grounds.
All transactions will be carried out fully online in the next two weeks, including the registration period for freshmen, which starts on August 3.
PLM said other requirements and processes will have to be coursed through e-mail with respective departments and offices concerned, while document submissions will be accepted as deliveries.
“During the downtime, PLM officials will review and reassess plans and protocols in its existing COVID-19 mitigation and disinfection measures to ensure a more effective response. PLM is also setting aside funds to buy rapid test kits, which it will use to test employees who will return to work,” the university said.
