Palace to RITM: Ensure accuracy of COVID-19 test results

Malacañang on Friday urged the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) to ensure accuracy of COVID-19 test results before releasing them to concerned parties.

The RITM has clarified that ACT-CIS party-list Representative Eric Go Yap is negative for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), saying the mistake was due to a “clerical oversight.”

However, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the “erroneous reporting” of Yap’s test results had caused “alarm and anxiety to those who had close physical contact with him and made them undergo self- quarantine.”

“We appeal to the RITM to be more certain of the test results before releasing them to the patients or their doctors to avoid such unfortunate incident,” the Palace official said.

Panelo also said the Palace was “pleased” with the negative test result.

Yap announced on Wednesday that he tested positive for the virus, prompting top government officials who were with him at the March 21 meeting in Malacañang in connection with the COVID-19 response to go into self-quarantine.

They included Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista and Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado and Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr.

President Rodrigo Duterte had also decided to self-isolate until April 7 because he had been exposed to the those Cabinet officials. —LDF, GMA News