RITM personnel did not contract coronavirus from processing samples – DOH

MANILA, Philippines — The 43 personnel of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) who tested positive for the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 did not contract the disease from processing test samples, the Department of Health (DOH) said Tuesday.

“Sinisigurado po ng kagawaran na mahigpit pong sinusunod ng mga empleyado ng RITM ang lahat ng infection prevention and control protocols at hindi po nakuha ang virus mula sa pagpo-proseso ng kanilang mga tests,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online press briefing.

(The DOH assures the RITM employees strictly adhere to all infection prevention and control protocols and they did not contract the virus from processing tests.)

RITM, the country’s main COVID-19 testing center, scaled-down its laboratory operations after 43 employees were infected by the novel coronavirus.

Vergeire added they are currently tracing close contacts of the COVID-19 positive staff of the RITM to determine the source of their infection.

Two of the RITM employees are over 60 years old, the health official revealed.

The virus causes mild symptoms such as fever and cough for most people but experts have warned that older adults with preexisting health conditions were more vulnerable to the coronavirus, particularly those aged over 60-years-old.

In the meantime, some RITM samples will be processed by other accredited COVID-19 testing centers such as St. Luke’s Medical Center, The Medical City, Makati Medical Center, Chinese General Hospital, and Detoxicare Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Vergeire noted.

KGA