Mayor Belmonte warns against discrimination if resident is allowed to return to community
(Eagle News) – The country’s first UK-COVID-19 variant positive case who has now tested negative for the virus might soon be allowed to return to his community once assessed to have fully recovered, according to the Quezon City government on Friday, Jan. 21.
The patient who is a resident of Quezon City is still staying at a quarantine facility and doctors are still to decide whether he has fully recovered from the virus.
Dr. Rolly Cruz, head of the City Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Unit (CESU), said that the doctors at the quarantine facility where the patient is currently staying will make a final assessment before he is declared fully recovered.
“After that, he would be allowed to reunite with his family and reintegrate with the community,” Cruz said.
But he said that the patient “will remain under strict health monitoring for at least two weeks.”
With this development, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte warned residents in the patient’s community against discrimination, saying that this is punishable under the city’s existing anti-discrimination Ordinance.
“Sa panahon ngayon, huwag na nating bigyang puwang ang diskriminasyon dahil wala itong naitutulong at nakakabigat pa sa sitwasyon,” she said.
“Sa halip na pandirihan, ipakita natin ang ating pagmamahal sa kanya at iparamdam na tayo’y masaya na siya’y magaling na,” the mayor added.
The COVID-19 negative findings on the resident was based on his latest swab test results.
The resident is a 29-year old male who travelled to Dubai last year, along with his girlfriend, for a business trip. Upon his return on Jan. 7, he underwent the mandatory testing and was placed under 14 day quarantine.
He later tested positive for COVID-19 and when his swab sample was sent to the Philippine Genome Center for analysis, he tested positive for the variant B.1.1.7 which is said to be 70 percent more infectious than earlier COVID-19 strains. The B.1.1.7 mutation was first detected in the United Kingdom.
The Quezon City resident’s girlfriend and mother, together with 14 other passengers on the Emirates flight from Dubai , also tested positive for COVID-19. Their test results were also sent to the PGC for analysis if they had the UK variant. So far, there is still no information as to the results of the genome sequencing on their samples.
(Eagle News Service)
