Police readying charges vs coronavirus patient who escaped authorities

MANILA, Philippines — Police will file a case against the coronavirus patient and her husband who attempted to escape authorities from a government hospital in Quezon City where she was admitted. Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas, in a press briefing on Friday, said the woman, who tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) went out of the Quirino Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City on Thursday without permission from health authorities to go home to her residence in San Juan. Sinas said the woman escaped with her husband onboard their vehicle. Police officers, along with local health authorities, chased the couple until they reached the parking lot of St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City on Thursday night. The negotiation at the parking lot to have the woman be admitted to the designated hospital of the Department of Health dragged for three hours, according to Sinas. The NCRPO chief said the couple will face charges for evading authorities. “Of course yung dalawa doon, hindi namin palalagpasin yun, icha-charge namin ‘yun kasi nga [they] (the couple, we will not let them pass. We will file charges against them because they violated some of the provisions of the quarantine law,” he said. Sinas explained that patients who tested positive for the coronavirus disease cannot demand the hospital where they want to be admitted because the DOH has designated certain hospitals where they should be treated.