ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews / 24 March) – A 46-year-old male from Masiu, Lanao del Sur confined in one of the hospitals here was confirmed to be positive of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), health officials said during a press briefing here Tuesday afternoon.
As Iligan City tightens quarantine in 15 barangays considered as hot zones with more reported cases of Persons Under Monitoring, residents of Barangay Bagong Silang barricaded one of the entry points to their village on Tuesday (24 March 2020). MindaNews photo by RICHEL V. UMEL
City Health Officer Cherlina Cañaveral said the patient, designated as PH492, was admitted last March 9 due to “pneumonia, with chief complaints of fever, cough and difficulty of breathing.”
The patient, she said, has a history of travel from Thailand through Kuala Lumpur. He arrived in the Philippines last March 3.
A statement released by the DOH’s Center for Health Development said the patient had “pre-existing conditions of chronic cardiac disease, chronic renal diseases and diabetes mellitus.”
Cañaveral said there are now two confirmed cases in Northern Mindanao with one death. She was referring to PH40, another Lanao del Sur resident first admitted in Iligan then referred to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center, where he died on March 14.
Meanwhile, a Person Under Investigation (PUI) died at the emergency room of the Adventist Medical Center here last Sunday afternoon but Cañaveral said they are still awaiting results of the swab test done on the patient.
The PUI was reportedly originally from Lanao del Sur who drove a passenger van.
Cañaveral said the patient was diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia and was considered high risk.
She added that as per protocol, the hospital disinfected the emergency room and members of the medical team who attended to the patient are now being quarantined. The immediate family members, she said, were provided with personal protective equipment until the cadaver was buried.
The move to bury the PUI in a government-owned land in the hinterland village of Bonbonon initially met resistance from apprehensive residents, but a call from Mayor Celso Regencia to barangay captain Omar Cader reportedly persuaded the villagers to give in.
Marivic Alia, former barangay councilor, said that during the burial, the police escorts came fully armed. (Richel V. Umel / MindaNews)
