ROXAS City – A teenager positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who escaped from a quarantine facility here has been apprehended.
The 18-year-old lad was cornered by the city government’s Task Force on COVID-19 with the help of the Roxas City police and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) on San Roque Extension here on May 6.
He escaped from the Hortus Botanicus quarantine facility on May 3 after he was swabbed.
According to Ronald Amigo, in-charge of the Roxas City COVID-19 Command Center, the lad – a youth offender – was among the close contacts of two COVID-19 positive children at the Roxas City Crisis Center, thus they were scheduled for a swab test on the morning of May 3.
Amigo said that after the lad was swabbed, he asked permission to use the comfort room. However, he suddenly ran away.
On the evening of May 3, the test results came out. The lad was among the 14 individuals – which included children, house parents and city government employees plus a security guard – from the crisis center who turned out positive for coronavirus infection.
According to the task force and the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), the lad was with a friend identified only as “Jan-Jan” when spotted at San Roque Extension but the friend – a minor – managed to run away.
The task force turned the COVID-19-positive teenager to the crisis center in Barangay Inzo here then launched a manhunt of the lad’s friend who ran away.
Amigo said they city government temporarily transformed the crisis center into an isolation facility for those who tested positive while those who tested negative for COVID-19 were pulled out from the facility.
Where did the lad spend the four days he was on the run?
The task force and CDRRMO wanted to know so it could conduct a thorough contact tracing and testing to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.
The task force and the CDRRMO appealed to whoever came in close contact with the COVID-19-positive teenager to coordinate with them to get the proper medical intervention./PN
