AN ALLIED health worker in Negros Oriental, who previously tested positive for coronavirus, had tested negative during the second throat swab test.
Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Estacion, the health committee chair of the provincial Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), said her office received the negative result of the second Reverse transcription-polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test Friday morning, June 19.
Estacion announced on Thursday, June 18, that the patient, a male who works at a government health care facility in Dumaguete City, tested positive for coronavirus, based on the result that arrived on June 15.
She said she formally made the announcement three days later in a press briefing as she was out of town to check on a psychiatric facility in Guihulngan City.
She said the allied health worker was first throat-swabbed on June 3 after being exposed to another coronavirus-positive patient, even though he was asymptomatic.
On June 16, he was subjected to a confirmatory test, which was processed Friday morning, June 19, at a facility in Cebu City and turned out negative, she said.
Estacion said the health worker already completed the mandatory quarantine, while his close contacts are isolated pending results of their coronavirus tests.
In general terms, allied health workers include professionals such as X-ray or radiology technicians, occupational/physical therapists, dieticians, pharmacists, physiotherapists, and even social workers, among others.
Following the recovery of the allied health worker, the province of Negros Oriental now has only one active Covid-19 case.
The latest available records show the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Negros Oriental since March is 21, including two patients from Cebu province who have been diagnosed in Dumaguete City.
Of the number, two died, 18 recovered, and one remains an active case. (PNA)