Three security personnel at the Iloilo Provincial Capitol here were placed on quarantine on Thursday after their exposure to a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-positive patient, the provincial administrator has confirmed.
Lawyer Suzette Mamon, Iloilo provincial administrator, said the three security personnel were assigned at the Capitol’s front entrance where the infected patient inquired on Tuesday, June 16.
The COVID-19 patient is a 37-year-old male from Cebu City out to deliver heavy equipment for a construction company, Mamon said.
Dr. Marie Jocelyn Te, Department of Health (DOH-6) medical coordinator for emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, said on Thursday, June 18, the patient is a driver of a delivery truck whose work destination is Calinog town, Iloilo.
“The patient arrived in Calinog on June 6 and was swabbed upon the request of the local government of Calinog as part of their initiative of testing all arriving transient individuals,” she said.
The patient is asymptomatic and under facility quarantine in Calinog.
“They (guards) were subjected to quarantine for the reason that they have exposure to an individual whose PCR result turned out to be positive,” she said.
When the positive result of the patient came out on Thursday, the Provincial Health Office (PHO) has immediately conducted quarantine protocols and preventive measures, she added.
The provincial administrator said that the patient has not entered the Capitol building.
The three guards are under quarantine in their respective municipalities “with corresponding support from the Iloilo provincial government”.
The PHO, meanwhile, has not yet released an advisory as to the measures for the contacts of the three security guards.
As of Thursday, Iloilo province has logged 24 confirmed COVID-19 cases with four deaths.Gail Momblan/PNA
