Marikina isolating COVID-negative persons in cases of families getting infected

MANILA, Philippines — In cases of families getting infected with COVID-19, the Marikina City local government has opted to isolate the member who is negative for the coronavirus, citing the lack of quarantine facilities.

“If all members of the family are positive, we lockdown the household,” Marikina City Mayor Marcelino Teodoro said Monday in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel.

“If not all, some are not positive, we take out the individuals with negative results out of the household and put them in a hotel or in a place where they could stay for a while until the quarantine of their members of the family will be completed,” he added.

The “family clustering” of infections were observed after the country saw a surge in the number of new COVID-19 cases.

Teodoro admitted they now lack the quarantine facilities hence the “innovative” approach of isolating the person negative for COVID-19 from their family members.

“No, we must admit that we now lack the necessary facilities for the purpose of quarantine,” Teodoro said.

“That’s the reason we’re being shall we say, innovative, in our approach of taking the negative out of the household and putting them in another area because we don’t need to isolate them so we could put them in any house that will be available,” he explained.

The government has imposed stricter restrictions on Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal until April 4 in a bid to suppress the rising COVID-19 cases.

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