The Makati City Prosecutor’s Office has recommended criminal charges against “Poblacion Girl,” a Filipina traveler who violated COVID-19 quarantine rules in December to party.
The prosecutor’s office said it found probable cause to charge Gwyneth Anne Chua of violating Republic Act 11332 or the “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.”
A guard at the Berjaya Hotel where Chua was staying was also chargedfor helping her leave the quarantine facility.
Complaints were also filed against other Berjaya Hotel employees, as well as Chua’s parents and boyfriend, but these were dismissed for lack of probable cause and insufficient evidence.
The prosecutor’s office said the evidence against the other hotel employees failed to show that they knowingly allowed Chua to leave the hotel premises.
On Dec. 23, 2021, Chua was seen partying in Poblacion, Makati, just two days into her mandatory quarantine at the Berjaya Hotel after arriving from the United States.
She later tested positive for COVID-19.
Fifteen of her contacts were also infected.
The incident earned Chua the nickname “Poblacion Girl.”
Meanwhile, the independent OCTA Research group said COVID-19 cases could go up to 1,000 a day after the May 9 elections, given the threat from variants or sub-variants of the coronavirus.
“Our projection is that cases may remain low in NCR as long as we are careful. Now, we’re averaging less than or around 100 cases per day in NCR. But we are looking at different scenarios,” OCTA fellow Guido David said.
Health authorities recently detected the first case of Omicron BA.2.12 in country in Baguio City in a 52-year-old Finnish female who arrived from Finland on April 2.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the BA.2.12 Omicron sublineage is more transmissible but is not as severe as the original Omicron variant that had caused a surge in COVID-19 infections in the country in January.
The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday recorded 159 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the nationwide total to 3,686,375.
The Philippines’ active case count further decreased to 4,692, the data posted on DOH’s website indicated.
A total of 3,621,244 people have been counted as recoveries, while the death toll climbed to 60,439, the DOH said.
The regions with the most cases in the past two weeks were the National Capital Region with 978 infections, Region 4-A with 354, and Region 3 with 212.
The DOH said at least 16,889 individuals were tested, while 305 testing labs submitted data on May 3.
The DOH said that the bed occupancy in the country was 15.7 percent, with 5,152 beds occupied.