COTABATO CITY—The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) government is requiring all returning residents stranded in other parts of the country to undergo another round of testing for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and 14-day quarantine.
Dr. Saffrullah Dipatuan, Bangsamoro health minister, said the test should be through the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) procedure, the standard set by the Department of Health.
The decision to require the RT-PCR test and quarantine for stranded residents was reached after 14 of 25 students who arrived in Mindanao from Cebu a week ago tested positive for COVID-19.
Twelve of the infected students were from Maguindanao, causing the COVID-19 infections in BARMM to climb to 23.
The students did not undergo testing before leaving for Mindanao on board a passenger ship, although each carried a certificate of fitness to travel issued by Cebu officials, Dipatuan said.
All overseas Filipino workers returning to the region will also undergo retesting and 14-day isolation before being allowed to go to their hometowns, he added. —EDWIN FERNANDEZ, FROILAN GALLARDO AND SHEILA MAE DELA CRUZ