The national office (NO) of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in Quezon City was closed last Friday noon after some 20 officials and employees were found to have symptoms of coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) following rapid blood test.
But it is expected to reopen today after the multi-storey building and annex structures were thoroughly sprayed and disinfected for two days.
Revenue officials who declined to be named said the blood serum examination is not conclusive and those suspected of having the deadly virus are still subject to undergo swabbing or confirmatory test.
The same sources explained that one could still be diagnosed with COVID-19 if he has other unrelated illnesses like high fever and even venereal diseases.
“Blood,or immunoglobulin test is all about anti-body examination indicating past and present non-specific infections,” said one knowledgeable revenue official.
BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay sought medical assistance from the Department of Health (DoH) to protect the health of revenuers and the transacting public.
DoH medical technicians started getting the blood sample of some 3,000 NO personnel last Tuesday including security guards and janitors.
Regional and district workers will be subjected to the same medical procedure later.(Jun Ramirez)
