MANILA, Philippines – Forty employees of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) have tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the director of the country's health research facility confirmed on Monday.
RITM Director Dr. Celia Carlos said most of the employees are asymptomatic and are staying under quarantine at the institute’s dormitory.
Last April 4, one of their staff tested positive for the dreadful disease. They conducted contact tracing and tested those exposed to the first case.
"We had 1 staff noong April 4 na na-test na COVID-positive. So we started contact tracing noong na-expose sa kaniya. Kahit wala namang symptoms 'yung mga na-expose, some of them turned out positive also," Carlos said in a radio interview.
Carlos added that the infected encoder acquired the virus from the community. “Parang office work ang trabaho niya, so no’ng nagi-investigate kami sa kaniya, parang from the community niya nga na-acquire ‘yung infection tapos nahawaan na lang niya ‘yung ibang tao."
Department of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Sunday that RITM COVID-19 test facility will temporarily scale down its operations to give way to safety procedures. It is expected to slow down the processing and reporting of cases in the coming days.
SEE ALSO: Duterte might declare another extension of Luzon-wide ECQ, Go says
As of Monday, the DOH reported 6,459 total confirmed cases in the country, with 428 deaths and 613 recoveries.
— The Summit Express
RITM Director Dr. Celia Carlos said most of the employees are asymptomatic and are staying under quarantine at the institute’s dormitory.
Last April 4, one of their staff tested positive for the dreadful disease. They conducted contact tracing and tested those exposed to the first case.
"We had 1 staff noong April 4 na na-test na COVID-positive. So we started contact tracing noong na-expose sa kaniya. Kahit wala namang symptoms 'yung mga na-expose, some of them turned out positive also," Carlos said in a radio interview.
Carlos added that the infected encoder acquired the virus from the community. “Parang office work ang trabaho niya, so no’ng nagi-investigate kami sa kaniya, parang from the community niya nga na-acquire ‘yung infection tapos nahawaan na lang niya ‘yung ibang tao."
Department of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Sunday that RITM COVID-19 test facility will temporarily scale down its operations to give way to safety procedures. It is expected to slow down the processing and reporting of cases in the coming days.
SEE ALSO: Duterte might declare another extension of Luzon-wide ECQ, Go says
As of Monday, the DOH reported 6,459 total confirmed cases in the country, with 428 deaths and 613 recoveries.
— The Summit Express
