RITM says Yap not infected, apologizes

MANILA, Philippines — ACT-CIS Rep. Eric Go Yap is negative for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) said yesterday.

The RITM apologized “profusely” for what it described as an “encoding error” after Yap said on Wednesday that he tested positive for the disease.?

“(Yap’s) results are by no means a false positive. This isolated incident was brought about by an encoding error which was discovered late last night by the Molecular Biology Laboratory of the Department of Health-RITM,” the agency said in a statement.?The RITM, however, maintained that its testing process is compliant with the World Health Organization protocol and that the results they released before “remain accurate despite this incident.”?“For the assurance of the public, we have reviewed all results we have previously forwarded and we affirm that this incident remains isolated. We have also added another layer of verification for all succeeding reports we will submit,” the RITM said. ?The agency said the person responsible, an augmentation staff from outside the laboratory’s regular workforce, has been dealt with administratively.?“We promise that this, and other associated incidents, will never happen again,” RITM said.

Yap said he was asymptomatic and felt well so he attended a meeting at the Palace and the House of Representatives’ special session, despite having himself tested for the disease on March 15.

Yap said he was informed of the error by RITM director Celia Carlos herself. He told TV5 he would finish his 14-day quarantine and would no longer ask for another test.

“I know no one is perfect,” Yap said in Filipino. “I ask that we trust the RITM.”

He denied lying about his health condition and said his principal concern was that other RITM test results would be accurate.