ILOILO City – A two-month-old baby boy in Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental became Western Visayas’ youngest person to contract SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Patient No. 344 is asymptomatic and being quarantined, according to Dr. Renilyn Reyes, head of the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6’s Public Health Program Development.
The baby was a locally stranded individual (LSI) who was recently brought home from Metro Manila by a “family member”, added Reyes.
She did not say if the family member was a parent of the baby.
This family member also underwent reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test, said Reyes, but the result was yet to be disclosed.
“We are still looking into the circumstances or mode of transmission sang sini nga bata,” Reyes added.
It was on June 21 when the baby boy and the family member were swabbed for COVID-19 testing. The baby’s test result was released yesterday.
The baby was one of the 21 new cases in the region confirmed by DOH yesterday, pushing to 353 Western Visayas’ COVID-19 cases.
Prior to the release of the baby’s test result, the region’s youngest COVID-19 case was a three-year-old boy (Patient No. 280) from Alimodian, Iloilo and a three-year-old girl (Patient No. 75) from Pandan, Antique.
COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus. This new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak began in Wuhan, China in December 2019.
The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, and dry cough. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea. These symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually. Some people become infected but don’t develop any symptoms and don’t feel unwell.
COVID-19 can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales.
The 21 new cases in Region 6 were the following:
* 36-year-old male from Mina, Iloilo (Patient No. 333), repatriated overseas Filipino worker (OFW)
* 26-year-old female from Igbaras, Iloilo (Patient No. 334), LSI
* 23-year-old female from Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo (Patient No. 335), LSI
* 52-year-old male from Santa Barbara, Iloilo (Patient No. 336)
* 38-year-old male from San Lorenzo, Guimaras (Patient No. 337), LSI
* 67-year-old female from Leganes, Iloilo (Patient No. 338), LSI
* 29-year-old female from San Joaquin, Iloilo (Patient No. 339), LSI
* 30-year-old female from San Joaquin, Iloilo (Patient No. 340), LSI
* 21-year-old female from Himamaylan, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 341), LSI
* 33-year-old female from Calatrava, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 342), LSI
* 57-year-old female from Himamaylan, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 343), LSI
* 2 months old male from Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 344), LSI
* 53-year-old male from Sagay City, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 345), LSI
* 22-year-old male from Escalante City, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 346), LSI
* 26-year-old female from Escalante City, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 347), LSI
* 28-year-old female from Cadiz City, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 348), LSI
* 14-year-old female from Sagay City, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 349), LSI
* 50-year-old male from Cuayan, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 350), LSI
* 64-year-old male from Escalante City, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 351), LSI
* 52-year-old female from Hinobaan, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 352), LSI
* 66-year-old female from Cadiz City, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 353), LSI
DOH-6 also reported yesterday that nine more patients recovered from the illness, bringing to 148 the total number of those who successfully beat the virus.
The nine cases were the following:
* 38-year-old female from Bacolod City (Patient No. 157)
* 40-year-old male from Bacolod City (Patient No. 160)
* 38-year-old female from Bacolod City (Patient No. 161)
* 35-year-old male from Bacolod City (Patient No. 162)
* 36-year-old male from Cadiz City, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 166)
* 43-year-old male from Silay City, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 167)
* 23-year-old male from Bacolod City ( Patient No. 173)
* 26-year-old male from Bacolod City (Patient No. 203)
* 18-year-old male from Bacolod City ( Patient No. 228)
The 353 total cases were from Aklan (six), Antique (15), Capiz (six), Guimaras (zero), Iloilo province (39), Negros Occidental (three), Bacolod City (11), Iloilo City (29), and repatriates (244).
The region’s COVID mortality cases remained at 11./PN
