Probe likely for data leak regarding Abra COVID case

BAGUIO CITY –– The Department of Health (DOH) has denounced the release online of information regarding the Abra seaman, who was confirmed to have contracted the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The agency is trying to determine how the official report about the 39-year-old patient was released, Dr. Amelita Pangilinan, DOH Cordillera regional director said in a briefing Tuesday (March 17).

The DOH earlier said it would ask the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate the social media post of what appeared to be official communication identifying the names and addresses of people with whom the seaman had interacted last week.

Some of the names in that post belong to minors. One of two sets of documents in the social media post was addressed to an unnamed police director.

The post violates privacy laws and may disrupt the process of containing the disease, Pangilinan said earlier during a March 16 briefing. “It puts the people under unnecessary danger and stigma,” she said.

Cordillera’s only COVID case has been moved to a hospital in the Ilocos region, while Abra sets up measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

The migrant worker left the United Arab Emirates at the start of March, said Pangilinan.

But his infection was confirmed only on March 14 by the Lorma Medical Center in San Fernando, La Union.  The Medical Center took his samples on March 10, when the COVID patient motored there to fetch his ailing mother, according to Abra Governor Jocelyn Bernos on Saturday (March 14).

Bernos had quarantined Barangays Catacdegan Nuevo and Catacdegan Viejo in Manabo town, where the seaman resides.

Health workers began contact-tracing protocols in Bangued, Sallapadan, and Licuan Baay towns, which the COVID patient has visited.