ANGELES CITY – Grab Philippines has finally relented to the request of Angeles Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin Jr. to conduct contact tracing among the passengers who were possibly exposed to the coronavirus or COVID-19 by one of its drivers who was downed with the disease.
In a statement, Grab Philippines said it has already “placed the driver-partner under a 14-day suspension while undergoing quarantine, and will receive medical and financial support from the company.”
Grab said it will also “assist in the deep-disinfection of the vehicle, and will be working closely with the health and local government officials to assist them in conducting the necessary contact tracing, to prevent the further spread of the COVID-19.”
Mayor Lazatin on Friday night denounced Grab Philippines for being uncooperative after Pampanga Governor Dennis Pineda announced that a GRAB driver became the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Pampanga province.
“The Grab officials cited protocols and confidentiality. They told me that DOH is the proper agency to handle it not the LGU. I even reminded them of the Proclamation of President Duterte that LGUs are mandated to prevent the spread of the disease but my plea fell on deaf ears,” Lazatin said.
Lazatin said that to be able to combat this pandemic, we need everyone’s cooperation and support. “This is not the time to think of their business.”
Grab said its priority is to ensure the safety of the community and its driver-partners. It said “since the start of the outbreak, we have been working closely with the Department of Health (DOH) to ensure we have timely communications and support for our drivers, as well as robust contact tracing processes in place.
“In the event of a driver or passenger who is a possible COVID-19 case, Grab will closely follow DOH protocol and do everything we can to provide accurate information to the DOH, the lead agency for contact tracing, in a timely manner,” said Grab.