By Joseph Jubelag
GENERAL SANTOS CITY- Local authorities have allayed fears among residents that a returning overseas Filipino worker had tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) while under isolation at at the city government-run Jorge Royeca district-hospital.
Hospital Director Dr. Ryan Aplicador denied that there was a confirmed CVID-19 patient who was admitted at the government hospital facility.
“As of now there is no confirmed COVID-19 patient at the city hospital,” Aplicador said
He said that the swab test result of one of the two suspected COVID-patients at the city-government health facility turned out negative on Saturday.
He said the 200 returning OFWs in the city had presented their negative results of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests upon arrival at the city’s airport.
However, City Mayor Ronnel Rivera stressed that a returning OFW from Kuwait was closely being monitored by local health personnel after showing COVID-19 symptoms after she arrived in the city on May, 27.
He said the 32 year-old OFW was already at an isolation facility of the city district hospital under close monitoring by health personnel.
“We’re still waiting for the RT-PCR tests of the patient” Rivera said.
He said local health personnel were closely monitoring and profiling the returning OFWs to maintain contact-tracing of people they had close contact with upon arrival in the city.
He said the returning OFWs were sent in quarantine facilities at several pension houses and hotels in the city to undergo mandatory 14-day quarantine period.