KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews / 26 September) — North Cotabato has recorded 11 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as of September 25, the highest since March, an official from the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Cotabato said.
Dr. Philbert Malaluan, Provincial Board Member and IATF Incident Command Post commander and public information officer, 10 of the 11 were locally-stranded individuals (LSIs) attended to by the Cotabato provincial government through its program, Task Force Sagip Stranded North Cotabatenos, while the 11th, a 66-year old female with co-morbidies, passed away.
Malaluan said the LSIs came from high-risk areas in Luzon and the National Capital Region who landed few days ago at the Davao City International Airport in Davao City.
He added that as part of Davao City’s protocol, all arriving passengers, including the LSIs and returning Overseas Filipinos from North Cotabato, were swabbed for the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test and “based on the results, 10 of them tested positive of the virus.”
Malaluan said the 66-year old who passed away on September 23, was rushed to the Dr. Amado Diaz Provincial Foundation Hospital, a government-owned facility, for diarrhea and vomiting but she suffered cardiac arrest and was immediately transferred to the Cotabato Regional Medical Center in Cotabato City but expired hours later.
Based on the tracker of the Department of Health Center for Health Development in Region 12, of the 11 cases recorded in North Cotabato, five are from Antipas; two from Kidapawan City; two from Pikit; and one each from President Roxas and Pigcawayan — Cotabato Patient 120 – who passed away.
Malaluan said the room at the Dr. Amado Diaz Hospital where Patient 120 was placed during her confinement, was temporarily closed for disinfection.
Six of the hospital’s health care personnel who had direct contact with the patient and have been classified “high-risk” were subjected to RT-PCR testing and placed under quarantine and strict monitoring of the staff from the Rural Health Unit of Midsayap.
Malaluan said the Dr. Amado Diaz Hospital remains open.
The hospital is among eight government-owned hospitals operating in North Cotabato. (Malu Cadelina-Manar / MindaNews)