ILOILO CITY –– Three tourists from Metro Manila, who falsified COVID-19 swab test results to be allowed to visit Boracay Island, tested positive for the disease.
They have been brought to the Aklan Training Center (ATC), the provincial quarantine facility in the capital town of Kalibo in Aklan, after being apprehended on Jan. 21, when authorities verified that they had falsified their reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests.
Also brought to the ATC were the two companions of the three, who had also falsified their RT-PCR tests, but had tested negative of COVID-19.
Tourists going to the island-resort are required to submit a negative RT-PCR test result released within 72 hours before going to Boracay.
Lawyer Selwyn Ibarreta, Aklan provincial administrator and head of the provincial COVID-19 Technical Working Group, said a group of five tourists was issued provisional quick reaction (QR) codes shortly after they arrived in Boracay on Jan. 21, while their RT-PCR test results were being verified.
When authorities confirmed that the results were falsified, an immediate check on their hotel that the tourists indicated in their application was conducted, but they were nowhere to be found.
They were later traced to another hotel, where police and health personnel apprehended them.
The tourists’ swab test results showed that three of the five were positive of COVID-19.
Health personnel was conducting contact-tracing activities to determine those who may have come in close contact with the three infected persons.
Another tourist, who also came from Metro Manila, but belonged to another group, was also found to have falsified her RT-PCR.
Since none of her companions had RT-PCR results, she was the only one brought to the ATC for quarantine. The tourist also tested negative of COVID-19.
Since December, authorities have intercepted or apprehended 26 Boracay tourists who submitted falsified test results.
Twelve were able to proceed to the island, while the rest were intercepted at the airport or shipping port in Caticlan. At least 12 more were not able to board their flights from Manila.