BY GLENDA TAYONA and IME SORNITO
ILOILO City – Is there already local or community transmission of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Western Visayas? Two of the 16 persons who tested positive for the disease did not have a history of travel to areas with confirmed cases of the illness such as Metro Manila.
“We are still going over the investigation report submitted by local government units so indi pa kita ka siling kon may local transmission. We are still making verifications,” said Dr. Mary Jane Juanico, focal person on COVID-19 of the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6.
The region’s positive case No. 10 – a 59-year-old female from Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo – had no history of travel to a COVID-19-hit area and no known exposure to a COVID-19 patient, DOH Region 6 data showed.
Positive case No. 16 – a 70-year-old male from Lambunao, Iloilo – had no history of travel, too, but had underlying medical conditions (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes). A possible exposure to a COVID-19 positive patient is still being verified.
Family members of Patient No. 10 told Panay News in an exclusive interview that they were very puzzled as well.
A daughter of the patient said, “Nagalibog ang ulo namon kon diin ‘ya nakuha. Wala gid kami recent travel history.”
The last time her parents travelled abroad was in 2018 yet, said the daughter, long before the virus causing COVID-19 emerged in December 2019 in China.
But the daughter recalled the patient visiting a private hospital in Iloilo City on the third week of March for a check-up; the patient had asthma and allergy on the first week of March.
After her check-up, the patient went to a supermarket in the city to buy milk, added the daughter.
Meanwhile, a total of eight patients under investigation (PUIs) for possible COVID-19 infection in Western Visayas already died.
Three were from Iloilo City, two from Capiz, one from Negros Occidental, one from Bacolod City, and one from Romblon province (but hospitalized in the region).
Three of them tested negative for COVID-19 (from Bacolod City, Capiz and Romblon) while one tested positive for the disease (from Iloilo City).
The test results of the four others (two from Iloilo City and one each from Capiz and Negros Occidental) were yet to be released.
The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness and dry cough, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea.
WHO said these symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually, and that some people become infected but don’t develop any symptoms and don’t feel unwell.
Most people (about 80 percent) recover from the disease without needing special treatment, according to WHO. Around one out of every six people who gets COVID-19 becomes seriously ill and develops difficulty breathing.
Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, are more likely to develop serious illness, said WHO.
Juanico said the COVID-19 testing center in the region, the Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) in Mandurriao district here, already tested more or less 100 specimens since it started operating last week.
The center can process 44 specimens a day, she added.
The four latest positive cases (one of nine positive cases and the latest three announced by DOH Region 6 on March 27 and 28, respectively) were tested at the WVMC.
Western Visayas has 5,000 COVID-19 test kits from the DOH central office. Each test kit can process 22 specimens for a total of 110, 000 for the whole region, said Juanico.
As of March 28, the DOH recorded a total of 312 PUIs of which 127 were tested negative from COVID-19; results of the 70 remained pending while the 99 others remained to be tested.
A total of 78 PUIs have also been discharged while 109 others remained in hospitals.
A total of 22,489 out of 44,309 persons under monitoring (PUMs) in the region have already completed their 14-day home quarantine./PN
