Health worker who first tested positive for COVID is now negative in RT-PCR

By Felipe V. Celino 

ROXAS CITY, Capiz – The 32-year-old worker of the Provincial Health Office (PHO) in Capiz who initially tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is now negative after undergoing Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease.

But PHO Information Officer Ayr Altavas said the patient will still undergo 14-day hospital quarantine at Roxas Memorial Provincial Hospital.

He said the health officer from Brgy. Milibili here will undergo another RT-PCR test to ensure that he is free of the virus.

On the other hand, the results of the swab tests of 57 employees of the PHO and the Department of Health (DOH)-Capiz were also negative.

Altavas said the employees of the two offices were immediately tested to determine if they were also infected by SARS-CoV-2.

The health workers also underwent 14-day quarantine in an isolation facility.

They are investigating how the sixth COVID-19 patient in the province was infected.

Meanwhile, Altavas corrected reports that the patient got infected after transporting swab specimen to the Western Visayas Medical Center in Iloilo City.

He said the patient has no history of travel to Iloilo or in other parts of Western Visayas nor history of contact with positive cases.

The Roxas City government also conducted contact tracing of the colleagues and family of the latest COVID-19 patient. So far, 10 persons tested negative in the rapid diagnostic.

The 10 individuals with direct contact to the patient are under home/facility quarantine while awaiting the results of their RT-PCR tests.