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All of the persons investigated for suspected COVID-19 infection in Bohol have tested negative for the disease.
According to Dr. Yul Lopez, spokesperson for the Capitol’s anti-COVID-19 technical working group, only three remained isolated as Patients Under Investigation (PUI) but they could be discharged within the day pending a follow-up evaluation by the physician in charge at the Governor Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital in Tagbilaran City.
“Depende na ni doctora kung tan-aw niyang pwede e-dishcarge na, so kung ma discharge ning tulo wala nay PUI presently sa tibuok Bohol,” he said.
The development came after four negative test results from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine were released on Friday morning. These were results of tests done on samples taken from four individuals who were the province’s last remaining PUIs.
“Very good news to all of us. Gitubag atong mga pag-ampo gi-ubanan sa kakugi sa provincial government, sa DOH ug sa Provincial Health Office,” Lopez said.
PUIs were previously to be discharged only when two swab samples taken from them 24 hours apart both test negative, but protocols have changed. The Department of Health has allowed PUIs who are already asymptomatic to be discharged from hospital isolation after testing negative in the first test.
The latest to be discharged was a female nurse who was in contact with the 60-year-old Chinese woman who tested positive for the disease and traveled to Bohol late last month. The nurse who was one of four remaining PUIs was allowed to check out of the hospital on Friday morning.
Two other nurses who were also in contact with the Chinese woman, one male and one female, were discharged from hospital isolation on Wednesday afternoon after also testing negative.
The total number of PUIs in Bohol at one point reached 11 with most of them in contact with the COVID-infected Chinese woman.
Some of the PUIs interacted with the Chinese woman as health workers when she was isolated at a private hospital in Tagbilaran City while others were crew members or passengers of an Ocean Jet vessel which she boarded in a trip from Cebu City to Tagbilaran City on January 20, 2020.
On Thursday afternoon, seven PUIs including crew members and passengers of the said vessel tested negative for COVID and were discharged from the hospital. (with R. Tutas)