8 Samar residents stranded in Bulacan to be flown home Sunday

TESTS. Bulacan Gov. Daniel Fernando on Thursday (JUne 25) inaugurated GenXpert Laboratory, its first molecular laboratory for screening coronavirus disease infections. PHOTO BY CARMELA REYES ESTROPE

CITY OF MALOLOS –– Eight Samar natives, who were stranded in Bulacan during the Luzon lockdown, have been medically cleared for travel back to their home province on Sunday.

They are members of a family originally from Barangay Cabaywa in the Samar town of San Sebastian, said Rowena Joson-Tiongson, Bulacan social welfare and development officer.

They migrated to Bulacan for work, but the head of the family lost his job due to the quarantine, she said.

The family members tested negative for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) when their samples were processed by the province’s newly opened GeneXpert Laboratory at the Bulacan Medical Center.

They have been housed at the official residence of Governor Daniel Fernando inside the Bulacan Provincial Capitol compound and would be flown back to Samar by Cebu Pacific.

“They were the first subjects to be tested [by GeneXpert Laboratory]. The San Sebastian government should not worry about their health,” Fernando said.

The laboratory was inaugurated on Thursday. It is classified as “Biosafety Laboratory 2,” according to Dr. Bernadette Espiritu, head of the Bulacan Medical Center Laboratory Department.

The GenXpert Laboratory is funded by the Department of Health. It used to serve as a tuberculosis facility.

LZB