TARLAC CITY, Tarlac — Six persons who have been confined in separate hospitals in the province for showing symptoms of the 2019 novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease (2019-nCoV ARD) were tested negative for the highly contagious illness.
Governor Susan Yap, in a statement, said the results of the laboratory tests were revealed on Wednesday by the Department of Health (DOH) Regional Office and the Regional Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) after the nano/oropharyngeal swab samples of the six persons under investigation (PUIs) were sent for testing Tuesday afternoon.
She said she is thankful upon learning of the results of the laboratory tests as she assured Tarlaqueños that all measures needed to contain the entry and spread of the virus are strictly implemented and followed.
“We are following the DOH protocol in containing the virus. I am thankful that the results were negative. We are very careful in the statements we release because we want to be very accurate and not cause any confusion or panic,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Provincial Health Office-Provincial Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (PHO-PESU) is monitoring another PUI who traveled to Myanmar and had a layover in Hong Kong.
According to the PHO-PESU, the swab specimen of the new PUI will be sent to RITM for testing.
The Tarlac provincial information office earlier reported that of the six PUIs, five were confined at the Jecsons Medical Center while the other one was confined in an undisclosed hospital in Tarlac province. The five confined at Jecsons were foreigners who came to Tarlac last January 25 after arriving from Macau. Another report said that the 5 were later on transferred to an unnamed hospital in Pampanga./with report from Marna Dagumboy Del Rosario (PNA)
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