ILOILO City – A total of 391 patients under investigation (PUIs) in Western Visayas tested negative for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as of April 7.
Western Visayas’ laboratory-confirmed cases, however, rose to 36 and of these, three have recovered while six died.
The region started sending specimens for COVID-19 testing to the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Manila end of January after the first suspected case, a feverish three-year old Chinese child, sought consultation at the Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC).
His test eventually yielded a negative result.
As of the April 7 data from the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6, 163 PUIs in the region were already discharged; 162, however, were still confined in hospitals.
Also, of the 54,374 persons under monitoring (PUMs), 44,238 completed their 14-day quarantine.
Meanwhile, 13 of the 36 confirmed cases were in Iloilo, seven in Bacolod City, six in Aklan, four each in Capiz and Iloilo City, and one each in Negros Occidental and Antique.
The island province of Guimaras remained, as of April 7, the only province in the region still free from COVID-19.
According to DOH-6, on April 7 311
test results released and only two came out positive for COVID-19 (or 0.64
percent).
The new cases were a 74-year-old male working in Semirara Island, Caluya,
Antique (the region’s Patient No. 35) and a 25-year-old female from Barotac
Nuevo, Iloilo (Patient No. 36).
On the other hand, the three positive patients who recovered were a 56-year old
male (Patient No. 1) and the 28-year-old male (Patient No. 9) both from Bacolod
City; and a 61-year-old female (Patient No. 3) from Iloilo City.
As to the mortalities, these were from Iloilo province (three) and one each from Capiz, Iloilo City and Bacolod City.
People can catch COVID-19 from others who have the virus, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The disease 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.
These droplets also land on objects and surfaces around the person. Other people then catch COVID-19 by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth.
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./PN
