QC mayor sends teams to retrieve COVID-19 patients sent home from isolation

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte expressed shock upon learning that three COVID-19 positive patients were sent home due to a lack of space in isolation facilities.

Belmonte immediately deployed health officials to retrieve the patients from their communities to prevent further transmission.

The mayor cited the potential stigma as the reason for not disclosing the specific urban poor communities from which the patients originated.

Belmonte noted that the patients exhibited only mild symptoms, which might have contributed to the hospital staff's perceived lack of urgency in isolating them.

The city government is considering a hotel repurposed into a hospital to accommodate COVID-19 patients with less severe symptoms.

This measure aims to remove infected individuals from their communities while they await further treatment or observation.

Belmonte suggested that the scarcity of space in health facilities might be the primary reason behind the current practice of sending patients home even after testing positive.

Four areas in Quezon City are currently under extreme enhanced community quarantine.