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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Makati hotel apologizes over COVID-positive guest who skipped quarantine to attend party

Makati hotel apologizes over COVID-positive guest who skipped quarantine to attend party

Published Jan 1, 2022 02:51 pm

The management of the Berjaya Makati hotel has apologized to the public for the incident involving one its guest who allegedly skipped quarantine protocol inside the establishment and went to a party in Makati City.

The guest, whom government officials identified as returning overseas Filipino Gwyneth Chua, tested positive for the coronavirus disease and authorities are now investigating if she was the reason why at least 15 people who made close contact with her were infected.

The Management sincerely apologizes for failing to stop her from jumping her quarantine. This was the only incident of its kind in the nearly two years that we have served as a quarantine hotel and we will make sure that it is the last,” the Berjaya Makati said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

“We can only make up for it by being an exemplar of compliance of moving forward. For now, we are fully cooperating with all government agencies that are conducting their investigations,” it added.

The Philippine National Police, through its Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), is now conducting an investigation against Chua, the hotel staff and personnel of the Bureau of Quarantine in preparation for the filing of necessary charges.

Chua arrived in the country before Christmas and allegedly skipped the mandatory quarantine for travelers from abroad.

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said that Chua admitted to skipping the quarantine and allegedly even bragged of her connections as to why she was able to do it. Later, the swab test conducted on her tested positive for COVID-19.

The Berjaya Makati admitted that what Chua did was a serious breach amid the continuous threat of the COVID-19, especially of the rising cases in Metro Manila and the confirmation of the omicron variant.

It assured that they will deal with their personnel who had something to do with the incident involving Chua.

“Any employee found errant by commission or omission will be dealt with severely to deter a repeat of what happened,” the statement read.

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