ILOILO City – A patient at the orthopedic ward of the Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) in Mandurriao district tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The hospital quickly locked down a portion of the ward on Friday afternoon to stop the virus from spreading.
The patient was a 72-year-old male from Igbaras, Iloilo, according to Dr. Stephanie Abello, chief pathologist of the WVMC sub-national laboratory where the region’s COVID-19 tests are conducted.
Patient No. 360 is actually a medical patient but was only admitted at the orthopedic ward because it has been used by the Medical Department since March this year. But he was already transferred to a designated COVID room in the hospital.
Because the planned procedure was invasive “kag maka-generate sang aerosol”, there were protocols to be observed and one of these was a COVID-19 test the result of which should be negative, Abello said.
Patient No. 360 was tested on July 1. The positive result was released on Friday and the lockdown was right away decided.
Also, even if WVMC doctors and nurses attending the patient were wearing personal protective equipment all the time, the hospital management deemed it wise to do contact tracing and test them, too, and quarantine them.
“There’s a lot of contacting tracing. We cannot compromise the safety of everyone in the hospital,” said Abello.
Test results would be released in a few days.
Abello, however, made it clear that not the whole orthopedic ward was locked down; just a portion of it so that decontamination could be done.
Patient No. 360, on the other hand, was transferred to a designated COVID room in the hospital.
The closed portion of the orthopedic ward would be reopened after the decontamination is completed, said Abello.
She did not give any timeline.
Nearly a week ago, St. Paul’s Hospital of Iloilo was placed on lockdown after eight of its doctors tested positive for COVID-19. As this was being written, it remained on lockdown.
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.
Patient No. 360 was part of the 12 new COVID-19 cases that the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 confirmed on Friday. The 11 others were the following:
* 47-year-old male from Murcia, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 354)
* 64-year-old male from Hinobaan, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 355)
* 32-year-old male from Hinobaan, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 356)
* 31-year-old male from Hinobaan, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 357)
* 37-year-old female from Lapuz, Iloilo City (Patient No. 358)
* 53-year-old male from La Paz, Iloilo City (Patient No. 359)
* 26-year-old male from Miag-ao, Iloilo (Patient No. 361)
* 31-year-old male from Lambunao, Iloilo (Patient No. 362)
* 30-year-old female from Tigbauan, Iloilo (Patient No. 363)
* 28-year-old female from Miag-ao, Iloilo (Patient No. 364)
* 33-year-old male from Pontevedra, Negros Occident (Patient No. 365)
Western Visayas as of July 3 had a total of 365 cases, 148 of whom have recovered while 11 died – leaving the region with 206 active cases.
The 365 cases were from Aklan (six), Antique (15), Capiz (six), Guimaras (zero), Iloilo province (40), Negros Occidental (four), Bacolod City (11), Iloilo City (31), and repatriates (252).
The 252 repatriates were in Aklan (five), Antique (five), Capiz (two), Guimaras (eight), Iloilo province (46), Negros Occidental (105), Bacolod City (40), and Iloilo City (41)./PN
