The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council of Mountain Province is looking for the passengers of the vehicles who rode with a mother and two children who left the isolation facility in Mankayan, Benguet without authority and went home in Talubin, Bontoc, Mountain Province on Dec. 7.
They are being traced as contacts of the family, who was in isolation and waiting to be transferred to the Benguet General Hospital as one of the children, a four-year-old who has congenital heart disease, tested positive for the Covid-19.
In an update on Dec. 9, Benguet Provincial Police Office Col. Elmer Ragay reported the family has already been located and now in isolation.
The family was discovered missing from the Mankayan isolation facility following an anonymous report.
Allegedly the child patient, who underwent swab test on Dec. 3 and whose result came on Dec. 6 as positive, was smuggled out from Lepanto, Mankayan and was brought home to Talubin, Bontoc by the mother along with her other child.
According to reports, the family rode in commuter vans plying Mankayan to Abatan, Buguias and a commuter van in Buguias plying Bontoc to Banaue.
The municipal government of Bontoc searched for the family upon learning of the tip and located them in Barangay Talubin. They are currently isolated while awaiting transfer to the Covid-19 ward at the Bontoc General Hospital.
In a report posted on its official social media accounts, the PDRRMC and the provincial government of Mountain Province appealed to the unidentified passengers to contact their nearest health facilities for advice and proper action and for the drivers of concerned commuter vans to immediately report to their respective municipal health offices. – Hanna C. Lacsamana