DOH recommends repeat COVID-19 tests for inbound passengers on 5th day of arrival
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) has recommended to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Technical Working Group the requirement of a repeat swab test from incoming travelers five days after their arrival.
This will be an additional prerequisite aside from the initial swab test they need to undergo upon arrival.
The DOH said such a follow-up test is necessary after reports that the co-passengers of the male patient with the UK variant from Dubai also tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) despite testing negative upon arrival.
According to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, it is best to have a repeat swab test to get a more accurate result.
“We have to repeat the testing on the fifth day after they have arrived before we release them to the LGUs,” she said,
“Sa ganitong paraan maaari po nating makita and appropriate po ang timing noong testing and we can be more certain kung talagang negatibo o positibo itong pasyente na ating na-test,” she added.
Meanwhile, the DOH confirmed that another passenger in the same flight as the country’s first case of COVID-19 UK variant also tested positive for the virus.
The patient was among those who yielded a negative result upon arrival but tested positive in the repeat test.
Overall, there are now 14 close contacts of “patient zero” that tested positive for COVID-19.
The DOH is awaiting results of the genome sequencing in six of the 14 patients to determine if any of them contracted the UK variant.
Among the six are the male patient’s mother and partner.
According to the DOH, all inbound passengers regardless of their country of origin should serve a 14-day mandatory quarantine even if they get negative results in the fifth day repeat test.
“Kapag nag-negative po sila, sila po ay pinapayagang bumalik sa kanilang local government basta with the condition that the local government will monitor them and continue their quarantine in their local government,” Vergeire noted.
IATF is expected to approve the recommendation of a mandatory 5th-day testing in the coming days. MNP (with reports from Aiko Miguel)