The first case of UK variant of COVID-19 in the Philippines is now negative for COVID-19 based on his latest swab test result, the Quezon City government announced.
The 29 year-old Quezon City resident who arrived from Dubai will still undergo assessment including chest X-ray, considering that he was diagnosed with pneumonia.
He will be allowed to return home upon approval of the attending physicians in the quarantine facility. The city government is now urging the public to avoid discrimination as it is “punishable under [its] existing anti-discrimination Ordinance”.
Meanwhile, the scheduled release of the genome sequencing result of the said patient’s close contacts who tested positive for COVID-19 was delayed.
“Yesterday, they called us and there was something wrong with the machine that they were using so they had to stop the process,” Department of Health (DOH) USec. Maria Rosario Vergeire reported.
“Kanila pong inayos muna and they committed na baka Sabado po lumabas ang sequencing natin (They had to fix it and they committed that the sequencing result might come out Saturday),” Vergeire added.
Authorities are still currently looking for two other passengers of Emirates Flight EK 332.
“We will be providing these two names to the NBI (National Bureau of Immigration) through the Department of Justice today para lang mahanap natin (so we can find them). Mas madali kasi silang makakahanap (They can search faster) because of their database,” Vergeire stated.
Following the IATF-EID approval on the proposed repeat RT-PCR test five days upon arrival from abroad, local governments are urged to strengthen quarantine protocols since those who will test negative will be allowed to continue their 14 day-quarantine in their home provinces.
– Report form Mark Fetalco
