CALASIAO, Pangasinan –– A 25-year-old overseas Filipino worker was allowed to return here by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) despite testing positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a local official said.
Mayor Joseph Bauzon said the patient, a resident of Barangay Nalsian Centro, came from the OWWA quarantine facility and arrived here on Tuesday evening.
Bauzon said he accepted the patient because it was his duty to take care of the health and lives of residents.
He directed the personnel from the municipal disaster risk reduction and management office to fetch the returning OFW at the Carmen, Pangasinan exit of the Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway.
Dr. Jezart de Vera, Calasiao Municipal health officer, said the patient was sent home because of a memorandum from the Department of Health that allows the discharge of coronavirus-infected OFWs who are already asymptomatic for 15 days.
The asymptomatic patient was brought directly to the rural health unit quarantine facility and would be swabbed again, Bauzon said.
The OFW is the third COVID-19 case in the town. The other two cases had already recovered.