By Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said the provincial government is looking at what legal action could be taken against five Negrenses who arrived recently but withheld information they came from the United Kingdom where a new strain of COVID-19 was detected.
In an interview with Aksyon Radyo, Lacson said the five claimed they were Locally Stranded Individuals but it was eventually found out that they came from London based on their passports.
“They did not state in their information (sheet) that they came from outside the country. They also claimed that they were already quarantined in Manila,” the governor said.
Lacson also said that the test results of the five returnees will be sent to the Philippine Genome Center to determine if the samples taken from them has the UK B.1.1.7 variant of COVID-19.
Two of them, a couple from Pontedevedra town and both overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), were found positive for COVID-19. Their son was negative.
The two other returnees are from EB Magalona.
Reports indicated that the Pontevedra couple, who flew from London via Istanbul last December 30, 2020, arrived in Bacolod via Air Asia on January 16, and claimed to have underwent mandatory swabbing.
Both are said to be asymptomatic and have no reported underlying conditions.
A report from the Pontevedra COVID Task Force said that the couple also decided to undergo 14-day quarantine in a hotel in Manila while waiting for the approval of their return to the province
Lacson said the couple are under strict home quarantine and will not be allowed to go out.
They were not transferred to the EB Magalona Healing Center to prevent the spread of a UK variant, the governor said.
Lacson also said a complaint is being sent to the National Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (NIATF) against the five Negrense OFWs.
He appealed anew to returning Negrenses to follow health protocols, submit themselves to swab tests and be truthful in answering health forms required from them.
