KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews / April 6) – Cotabato province’s first confirmed case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a 45-year-old male who attended the six-cock derby at the New Matina Gallery in Davao City last month, a top provincial official disclosed Monday.
Dr. Philbert Malaluan, manager of the Emergency Operations Center of the province’s Inter-Agency Task Force, said the patient was tested last March 21 but the results came out only today, April 6.
The patient, according to Malaluan, also attended a gathering hosted by the derby organizers at a VIP room of an establishment in Davao City, along with other cockfighting aficionados from different areas in Mindanao.
The patient initially manifested flu-like symptoms but he is now in stable condition, the official said.
Malaluan said the patient was advised to undergo another Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) laboratory test to check if he is already free from the virus.
As of Monday, the patient has been confined at the coronavirus disease isolation room of the Cotabato Provincial Hospital at the Amas capitol complex here.
“We have already done contact tracing…The hospital personnel, including his family members, are now under quarantine,” Malaluan said.
Aside from the province’s first confirmed COVID-19 patient, the official said there are two other cockfighting enthusiasts from North Cotabato who were admitted at the provincial hospital’s isolation facility after they manifested flu-like symptoms.
Results of their PCR laboratory tests are still pending, he added.
Data showed that there were 51 cockfighting enthusiasts from North Cotabato who attended the derby in Davao City.
Many of them have completed the quarantine period without showing any symptoms, according to Malaluan. (Malu Cadelina Manar / MindaNews)