BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – While the figure of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections in this city continues to surge, authorities have another reason to worry – missing and untraceable patients.
Twenty-eight individuals who tested positive for the viral illness provided false addresses and phone numbers when they were asked to fill up the Confidential Information Form, said Councilor Renecito Novero over the weekend.
They were part of the more than 400 residents who took part in the two-day Bacolod leg of the “Time Out Weekend Mass Testing” program in Negros Occidental two weeks ago, Novero revealed in an interview over Bombo Radyo-Bacolod.
According to the councilor, the Quarantine Action Team contacted five of the 33 COVID-19 patients initially reported missing or can’t be contacted by the City Health Office.
Councilor Lady Gles Gonzales-Pallen, president of the Liga ng mga Barangay, was tasked to track down the patient’s locations since the mass testing was barangay-based.
When asked if the identities of the “missing” patients could be announced on mainstream or social media, Novero said “they are protected by the Data Privacy Act and anyone may face criminal charges if they do that.”
He added: “We are still studying how to locate them.”
Novero urged the 28 patients to submit themselves to the city’s isolation facility to avoid infecting more people.
Based on the Sept. 13 data of the Department of Health, Bacolod City has a total of 1522 local active COVID-19 cases./PN
