14 foreign tourists, 2 locals who visited Tubbataha positive for COVID-19

At least 16 people, including 14 foreign tourists, who visited Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park in Puerto Princesa tested positive for COVID-19, Puerto Princesa’s Incident Management Team said.

“So all in all po meron tayong 14 na turista na nag-positive at dalawang local crew po ng malaking yate na po ito. So 16  lahat talaga sumatotal, out of 43 na katao na sumakay po ng yate,” IMT commander Dr. Dean Palanca said in a press briefing Tuesday

(So all in all we have 14 tourists and two local crew members tested positive for COVID-19. So a total of 16 out of the 43 people in the yacht tested positive.)

He added most of the infected tourists are Americans while some are Europeans.

According to Palanca, samples from at least 10 of the tourists will be sent to the Philippine Genome Center to determine the variant of coronavirus that infected them.

The positive cases are staying at the quarantine facility of Puerto Princesa.

Palanca said that on May 14, 43 individuals, including 23 foreign tourists and 20 local crew members, boarded a yacht to Tubbataha. After a couple of days, one of the tourists experienced symptoms.

The Puerto Princesa government is set to conduct contact tracing in connection with the incident.—AOL, GMA News