CITY OF CALAPAN –– There is no coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patient in Puerto Galera now, clarified Oriental Mindoro Governor Humerlito Dolor, in a post on Thursday on his Facebook page.
“Aside from Patient 44 who became positive on April 7, and after two negative results in his second and third tests, he was declared fully recovered on April 27, [there is] no positive patient since in Puerto Galera,” Dolor said, clarifying a previous report that 20 had tested positive of the viral disease in the town.
In a phone interview Thursday, Dr. Rodel Gabayan Jr., chief of the Puerto Galera town health office, said the reported 20 persons, who tested positive, refer to the “rapid mass screening test (RMST) and not to being COVID-19 positive.”
“The [rapid] test is to see who has a possible infection of COVID-19 and they are all subject for a confirmatory test,” Gabayan said.
He said the test was done twice during the same day when a person had the rapid test before they released the result.
On Tuesday, 286 people had the RMST and 13 came out positive.
On Wednesday, 167 took the rapid test, out of which seven tested positive. Those who tested positive remain asymptomatic.
They would undergo a confirmatory test for COVID-19 and were ordered to observe strict home quarantine.
Dolor said they recognize the initiative of the Puerto Galera local government to perform rapid antibody testing as the provincial government does.
He explained that in the case of a positive result in the rapid antibody testing, a person would be subjected to a real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) confirmatory test.
“Only the confirmatory test result coming from RT-PCR can tell if someone is [COVID-19] positive…,” Dolor said.