CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – The sole patient from this city who was previously tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been re-tested and was found out to be negative of the infection, health authorities confirmed Wednesday (April 8).
Dr. Jose Chan, chief of the state-run Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC), said the 71-year-old resident from one of the villages here, also known as “patient 597,” was tested positive for COVID-19 on March 24.
A second test conducted April 7 turned up negative, prompting NMMC to conclude the patient no longer has the coronavirus.
“We can say that this patient (PH 597) has recovered from COVID-19,” Chan told reporters during the press briefing held at the city mayor’s office Wednesday.
Chan said they only need one negative confirmatory or second test to declare that a patient infected with COVID-19 is free of the virus.
Based on the data provided by Chan, NMMC now has eight patients in isolation. Three are suffering from a severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) and six are persons under investigation (PUIs).
Of the three patients with Sari, one died on Tuesday (April 7), and another one is on a ventilator, he said.
Chan added the PUIs manifested mild symptoms usually associated with COVID-19.
According to the Department of Health (DOH), people who may have been infected with the coronavirus experience cough, fever, tiredness, and difficulty of breathing.
Dr. Ian Gonzales, head of DOH-10’s infectious disease cluster, said that there are no new COVID-10 cases in Northern Mindanao, as the number has remained at six cases.
Of the six cases, one patient (“PH40”) from Pasig City died March 13, after he was admitted at the NMMC on March 8.
According to the latest DOH-10 data, there are 4,465 persons under monitoring (PUMs) and 337 PUIs in the region.
There are 329 PUIs who survived and eight who died, while those currently admitted are 62 and discharged 43.
PUIs who are on home isolation totaled 224, with 30 still under the 14-day quarantine, and 194 who have finished the two-week isolation.
The provincial government of Camiguin, meanwhile, has recently announced its first confirmed COVID-19 case.
Gov. Jurdin Jesus Romualdo said the female patient, who is asymptomatic, is a government employee who, together with two other co-workers, attended a seminar in Manila recently.
He said the patient and her colleagues went back to Camiguin on March 14 and were immediately subjected to quarantine.
Romualdo said the seminar’s speaker was infected with COVID-19 and that the patient had interacted with the resource persons.
The governor said the three PUIs completed their isolation period on Friday, April 3 and were cleared by the physicians at the Camiguin General Hospital.
But when the patient tested positive of COVID-19 on April 4, she was put on strict home quarantine, Romualdo added. (davaotoday.com)
