ILOILO City – There are now 18 Western Visayans who died due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), data from the Department of Health (DOH) 6 showed.
Another fatality was recorded yesterday, according to Dr. Jessie Glen Alonsabe, epidemiologist of DOH-6, saying this patient was a 56-year old female from Batad, Iloilo.
The patient was admitted in a hospital for severe acute respiratory infection and was tested positive for the disease last July 13 and died July 29.
“This is a local case and the patient was suffering from chronic kidney disease,” Alonsabe said.
The July 31 data of DOH-6 also bared 15 recoveries and 36 new COVID-19 confirmed cases, raising the region’s total infections to 1,244.
Western Visaya has 560 active cases, 666 recoveries, and 18 deaths as of Friday.
The new cases were from the 934 laboratory results released by the four laboratory centers in the region.
Nineteen confirmed COVID-19 were from the 551 results coming from the Western Visayas Medical Center sub-national laboratory, 13 from 290 results of the Teresita Jalandoni Provincial Hospital Molecular Laboratory, three from the 91 specimens processed at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital Molecular Laboratory and two from out of two specimens coming from the Qualimed Hospital Molecular Laboratory.
One new case, an authorized person outside of residence, was tagged to Romblon.
The new cases are composed of four local cases and 10 locally stranded individuals (LSIs) from Iloilo City; two local cases from Bacolod City; three local cases and 11 LSIs from Negros Occidental; one local, one LSI and one ROF from Iloilo province and three LSIs from Aklan.
Two of the cases were admitted, three were under home quarantine, and the rest were quarantined in a facility.
Of the recoveries, nine were from Iloilo province, one from Negros Occidental, three from Iloilo City, and two from Capiz.
“They should have been reclassified as recovered long ago but they were not released (from the temporary treatment and monitoring facilities) because they are waiting for the result of the RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) test,” Alonsabe said,
Under the new criteria for tagging as recovered, he said the patient has to be mild and asymptomatic for 14 days.
Earlier, a patient has to have two RT-PCR tests but the requirement has since been reduced to just one test.
However, there were recent findings that after 10 days the patient can already be discharged even without the repeat RT-PCR.
In some instances if there is a repeat RT-PCR, what is being detected is the fragment of the disease, he added. (With a report from PNA/PN)
