Duterte orders agencies to address 3-day delay in OFWs’ swab test results

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night ordered concerned government agencies to address the reported three-day delay in the release of swab test results for returning overseas Filipino workers.

“It has come to my attention that the swab test results of OFWs are three days delayed. Whatever is causing this delay must be addressed immediately,” Duterte said in his nationally televised address.

“No amount of lockdown, no amount of police power can stop a Filipino citizen from going home,” the president added.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the delay was due to the disruption in the processing of the Philippine Red Cross of swab samples after a “massive infection.”

Lorenzana, however, said the matter was already addressed.

So far, the country has 80,970 active COVID-19 cases with total confirmed cases at 671,792.

The country has registered over 7,000 new COVID-19 cases daily from March 19 to 21 and posted a record-high 8,019 new COVID-19 infections on March 22. — DVM, GMA News