El Nido health officials have declared their lone COVID-19 patient as “recovered”, after only seven days in the municipal isolation facility.
Kurt Acosta, spokesperson of the El Nido municipal inter-agency task force (MIATF) for emerging infectious disease (EID), on Monday said they are not aware of any guidelines prescribed for a 14-day isolation period for confirmed COVID-19 positive patients.
“Hindi kasi prescribed ng Department of Health (DOH) and 14 days na quarantine period. Sabi kasi, every week sa isolation facility, kailangang i-test for IgG and IgM. Nag-negative naman,” Acosta said.
Acosta added that the municipal authorities did not receive a copy of the anew resolution decreeing COVID-19 patient recovery, when asked why the patient’s recovery time was shorter than the IATF-recommended 14 days.
“The municipal government did not receive this particular IATF resolution yet, but will immediately implement it for the next patient,” Acosta added.
Based on the national IATF resolution No. 60 issued on July 30, COVID-19 patients are required to complete the 14-day isolation period upon swab sample collection. The 27-year-old female patient’s sample was gathered on July 25.
The regional office of DOH said that the surveillance team has yet to validate the recovery, but expressed “confidence” on the decision-making of the local officials.
“We believe that our physicians are equipped with right knowledge on the management of COVID-19 and that we trust their assessment,” said Romalyn Racho, regional head of Health Education and Promotion Unit of the Department of Health (DOH).
El Nido’s lone COVID-19 patient is a locally stranded returnee who arrived on July 11 aboard M/V Lillies. She was negative on the rapid diagnostic test (RDT) upon her arrival. She tested positive for RDT on July 25 as she was about to graduate from the mandatory quarantine.
Her swab sample was gathered on July 25, which returned positive results on July 27.
The municipal government, on Monday (August 3), announced that the patient was discharged on August 1 after being deemed “recovered”.
(With reports from Ruth Rodriguez and Jane Tumalac)
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