A 52-year-old returning overseas worker (ROF) from Talisay City tested positive for COVID-19 Delta variant, results from the Philippine Genome Center showed.
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said they were informed of the test result on Aug. 25, and the Talisay resident, who came from the United Arab Emirates, and his family members were immediately re-swabbed and restricted.
Diaz said that the COVID-19 -infected Negrense arrived in Negros Occidental on Aug. 11, after a 10-day quarantine at Seda Hotel in Manila from July 20 to 30, and another 11-day quarantine at the BB Hotel from July 30 to Aug. 11 also in Metro Manila.
After three weeks of isolation, Diaz said the ROF was issued with a certification by the Bureau of Quarantine, attesting that he is fully recovered.
On Aug. 25, he said that the Provincial Health Office was informed that the ROF was infected with highly-contagious COVID-19 Delta variant.
As a Standard Operating Procedure, Diaz said the ROF was immediately re-swabbed, to check if he and his family members are still infected with the Delta variant.
He added that the ROF was advised to undergo strict quarantine.
The highly-urbanized Bacolod City has also recorded six Delta variant cases.
The regional office of the Department of Health- Center for Health and Development said that cases positive for Delta variant should have a negative PCR, on or after the end of isolation, before they can be tagged as recovered.
“This is irregardless if they have completed the 10-day isolation,” DOH regional director Adriano Suba-an said, in an advisory issued by DOH-WV-CHD. – GB