Rep. Yap accepts RITM apology over false COVID-19 positive report

ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Eric Go Yap has accepted the apology of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) for a clerical error that mistakenly reported him as positive for COVID-19.

Yap experienced sleepless nights and guilt over potentially infecting top political leaders, including President Duterte, after his supposed positive result was announced.

He had attended several high-profile events, including a Malacañang meeting and congressional sessions, before the RITM's clarification.

RITM head Dr. Celia Carlos personally called Yap to explain that the initial report was due to an encoding error and that his actual test result is negative.

The Presidential Security Group had launched an investigation into the incident, warning that Yap might be held responsible for endangering President Duterte's life.

The RITM has added another layer of verification for all succeeding reports to prevent future incidents.

The employee responsible for the encoding error, who was part of an augmentation staff, is already being dealt with administratively.