By strictly following the ten-day requirement, Dr. Edsel Salvana of the Department of Health Technical Advisory Group said the returning OFWs could even forego testing as long as they do not have symptoms in that entire period.
The suggestion was in response to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello's concerns the Labor Department's budget for isolating OFWs in facilities has been dwindling. He said he also heard concerns about the length of quarantine as well as the waiting time before the OFWs get tested. Previously, returning Filipinos get tested immediately upon arriving in the country but this has since changed as the results may not have been reliable.
[if you test them once they arrive, they won't test positive yet]. It usually takes 3 to 5 days for the person to turn positive [on RT-PCR], that's why[what we do is] we test on the fifth day," explained Salvana during a meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte and other officials on Wednesday. That is why the current protocol is to confine travelers in a facility for five days, get them tested, and they can continue isolation in their hometowns until the 14-day requirement is met, he added.
But now, Salvana proposed that along with the new ten-day quarantine, testing for symptomatic OFWs can be moved to the seventh day of quarantine. He presented data that showed 80% of tests have positive results by the eighth day from the time of exposure to possible infection — much higher than the 62% positivity rate on the fifth day.
Should be 14 days same as USA,.
One rule for everyone. 14days! Stop changing and confusing people. Lets be safe and bring the cases down together.
tama yan para makapagkalat ng COVID19 sa final 4 days yung mga asymptomatic 🤣🤣🤣 tapos sisisihin n naman ng mga tukmol ang mga Pilipino na pasaway daw kuno
: make it 7 days (a week) if its possible..a lucky number