INFECTED. Beneficiaries of the “Balik Probinsya” program arrive in Palo, Leyte from Metro Manila in this May 21, 2020 photo. Two members of the first batch of about 112 returnees have tested positive for Covid-19, a week after their arrival. (Photo courtesy of the Department of Agriculture 8)
TACLOBAN CITY – Two beneficiaries of the "Balik Probinsya" program have tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) a week after arriving in Leyte from the National Capital Region, a regional health official said Thursday.
Department of Health (DOH) 8 (Eastern Visayas) Director Minerva Molon reported in a press briefing that a 26-year-old and a 28-year-old males, who have just returned to Tanauan town and Baybay City, respectively, are both asymptomatic.
The two arrived in Palo town on board buses on the night of May 21. They were part of the first batch of 112 beneficiaries of the "Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa" (BP2) program that is meant to decongest Metro Manila.
Health workers took swab samples from the returnees upon their arrival.
Most of the samples were sent to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center due to the shortage of supplies of kits at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center last week, Molon said.
Some local governments opted to have their residents re-swabbed and samples were sent to the privately-owned Divine Word University Hospital here, including the specimens from the two new cases.
“The focus of contact tracing is (the) other bus passengers since they have (had) no contact with their families. Local government units picked them up from the holding area and transported them directly to their respective isolation facilities,” Molon said.
With the test result, she called for a review of the protocols in sending people to the provinces from Metro Manila under the "Balik Probinsya" initiative.
“We already sent reports on (the) lapses of the program. We also have to look into the readiness of the community to accept returning residents,” Molon added.
The region expects the arrival of about 4,000 residents from the National Capital Region under the program in the next few weeks.
Leyte provincial health officer Lesmes Lumen said some of the returnees told health workers during their interview that they have not been tested for Covid-19.
“The Balik Probinsya program is good because we want people from Leyte to be back but the problem is the process of sending them back. We hope that all beneficiaries will follow the health protocols,” Lumen told reporters.
She said the immediate release of all test results would help them find out how many of the 112 are virus carriers.
The DOH-8 expects to get the result from Cebu City within the week.
Eastern Visayas has 31 Covid-19 infections as of Thursday after one resident of Tarangnan, Samar, a 50-year-old woman, tested positive for the disease. The patients are from Catarman, Northern Samar; Calbayog City, Samar; and Burauen, Leyte.
The region has also recorded 20 recoveries and zero death, according to the DOH. (PNA)
