31 RITM employees ‘cleared’ of new coronavirus, says DOH official

MANILA, Philippines — Thirty-one employees of the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City have recovered from the coronavirus disease while nine others are still awaiting their second negative result, an official of the Department of Health (DOH) disclosed Saturday.

“Thirty-one of them (RITM workers) already had two negative examinations. Meaning they are already cleared,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said over CNN Philippines.

“They do not have symptoms and they had gone back to work already,” she added.

Vergeire also said nine other employees are staying at a dormitory in the RITM while they wait for the results of their second test, which is expected on Sunday or Monday.

The health official further said they hope RITM can increase the number of tests with the new Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) machines.

“Hopefully, we will get the augmentation that we need because  RITM has additional RT-PCR machines,” she said.

“Hopefully in the coming days they can increase the number of tests that they can do,” Vergeire added.

Vergeire said DOH will provide more workers for the Muntinlupa-based laboratory as they get more volunteers.

The RITM previously scaled down its laboratory operations after 40 employees tested positive for the new coronavirus.

KGA