ILOILO – A 45-year-old man who tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Iloilo City was intercepted in Barangay Hacienda Conchita, San Dionisio town on Wednesday afternoon.
The man worked in a fishing vessel that, from Palawan, docked at the Iloilo Fish Port Complex in Iloilo City on July 30.
He and colleagues were subjected to COVID-19 tests by the city government on Aug. 6 due to an outbreak of the disease in the facility.
On Aug. 12 the man decided to go home to Barangay Tiabas, San Dionisio claiming that his fishing company based on Dela Rama Street, Iloilo City told him he tested negative for COVID-19.
“He actually tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19,” according to Mayor Larry Villanueva of San Dionisio.
From Barangay Hacienda Conchita where he was intercepted, the man was taken to the quarantine facility of San Dionisio.
Villanueva said the man may be charged with violating public safety health protocols.
The mayor of San Dionisio learned of the man’s case from – and was alerted by – the Rural Health Unit (RHU) of neighboring Barotac Viejo town.
“It turned out that the man stated in the COVID test information sheet he was required to fill out prior to testing that he was from Barotac Viejo, thus the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 released to the Barotac Viejo RHU and local government unit his test result,” said Villanueva.
The Barotac Viejo RHU, in turn, informed DOH-6 that the man was not a resident.
Alarmed, DOH-6 contacted the man (he stated his real mobile phone number in the COVID test information sheet) and learned that he was already on a Ceres bus and on his way home to Barangay Tiabas, San Dionisio.
The RHU and local government unit of San Dionisio were right away informed. Mayor Villanueva alerted his policemen, health personnel and the barangay council of Hacienda Conchita, the village where everyone going to Barangay Tiabas must pass through.
Past 1 p.m. on Wednesday, the man reached Barangay Conchita; he was immediately taken to the San Dionisio quarantine facility.
Passengers of the Ceres bus, meanwhile, were told to observe 14 days of quarantine or better yet, sought help from their respective local government units for COVID-19 testing./PN
