THE Bacolod City Council approved a resolution addressed to the National Inter-Agency Task Force (NIATF) against coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and the Department of Health (DOH) seeking clarification on the quarantine procedure for returning residents.
The resolution, authored by Councilor Renecito Novero, was approved during the regular session of the City Council Wednesday, May 27.
Novero, chairperson of the committee on education, said Bacolod City was placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from March 27 to May 15 and under general community quarantine (GCQ) from May 16 to 31, 2020.
He said through the duration of these periods of ECQ and GCQ, there have been Bacolod resident returnees who are overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and non-OFWs.
Novero said upon arrival in Bacolod City, these returnees were subjected to mandatory quarantine and mandatory reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) or swab test, even though they had already been quarantined and gone through RT-PCR in their respective places of origin in the Philippines before returning to Bacolod City.
“It is yet unclear whether Bacolod City will continue to be under a community quarantine status after May 31,” he added.
Novero said there is a need to clarify certain issues on health protocols regarding quarantine requirements for returning Bacolod City residents be they OFWs or non-OFWs.
He added the NIATF and the DOH should address the queries such as whether a returnee, who has already been quarantined for already 14 days in his place of origin and has been subjected to RT-PCR test with negative result, be still subjected to another quarantine in the city and undergo the same RT-PCR.
“Such returnee, whose RT-PCR test in his place of origin resulted to negative, need he be quarantined again in Bacolod City? And should the answers to the first and second questions be in the affirmative, need the quarantine period be mandatory 14 days or may it be reduced to at the least a seven-day period or any duration less than 14 days?” Novero asked. (MAP)