79 SLIs in BARMM tested positive to COVID-19
Breaking News • 22:15 PM Mon Jul 13, 2020
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By:
FERDINANDH CABRERA
BARMM health frontliners conduct swab tests to LSIs in an isolation center in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao. Otter photo shows the bus that ferried them from Cagayan de Oro. (BARMM photos)
COTABATO CITY - Seventy nine Locally Stranded Individuals (LSIs) rerouted from Cagayan de Oro to Maguindanao have been tested positive of the virus, officials of the Bangsamoro Region today said.
BARMM Interior Minister Naguib Sinarimbo said the number of patients may increase depending on the results of another batch of LSIs subjectd to swab tests.
"The results of the remaining batch composed of 245 persons will soon be released," Sinarimbo said.
"All of them are considered COVID-19 infected because of tendencies of mixing with each other during their long and agonizing journey," he added.
They are now subjected to 14-day quarantine in four isolation sites in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.
Supposedly returning to Basilan-Sulu-Tawi-Tawi (Basulta) provinces from Manila, they were offloaded to Cagayan de Oro last week. The BARMM government "rescued" them and brought to regional isolation center.