Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año clarified that residents returning to their home provinces do not yet need to undergo swab testing for the coronavirus.
This statement came after a “miscommunication” happened about the proposal for locally stranded individuals to undergo polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests at their home provinces. Año officially said that it has not been approved yet.
“Nagkaroon lang siguro ng miscommunication. Hindi required ‘yung PCR testing sa kanila. Hindi pa naman na-approve ‘yung bagong pino-propose nating protocol na maga-undergo ng PCR testing ang mga LSI pero ito ay doon na sa kanilang point of destination,” he announced.
[Maybe there was a miscommunication. They are not required to undergo PCR testing. The proposal has yet to be approved for LSIs to undergo PCR test at their point of destination.]
If approved, the government will shoulder the returning residents’ PCR test and is preparing to distribute more test kits, said Año.
