A 56-YEAR-OLD man in Bacolod City was tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
This was confirmed by Mayor Evelio Leonardia in a press conference at the Bacolod Government Center last night with the members of the Bacolod Inter-Agency Task Force against Covid-19.
Leonardia said the regional director of the Department of Health (DOH) informed him Friday, March 20, that one of the persons under investigation (PUIs) in Bacolod has been tested positive for Covid-19.
“But the patient is stable, recovering and in complete isolation in a hospital in Bacolod. He is 56 years old, a resident of Bacolod, with a travel history from London and arrived in the city on February 29,” he said.
He added that he already ordered the City Health Office (CHO) to immediately conduct an intensified contact tracing and find out where this patient has been in Bacolod City.
The patient was confined in the city’s hospital on March 6.
The mayor also asked the police and other intelligence units to help the city to come up with very accurate contact tracing of this person who arrived from London.
Leonardia said it’s not the time yet to elevate the city’s community quarantine into enhanced quarantine.
“Please just stay at home and always practice proper hand washing and social distancing. If you’re staying inside your house you will not be infected by this virus. The only way we can fight this is if we all cooperate and if we all observe all these hygienic practices which the city government is implementing as to the best it can,” he said.
The mayor also appealed to all the Negrenses to strictly follow the rules and regulations in Bacolod in this state of general community quarantine.
City Health Officer Carmela Gensoli said the families of the patient were also considered as persons under monitoring (PUMs).
“The patient is recovering, but he was advised to stay for 14-days in the hospital. We are intensifying our contact tracing since he arrived here in Bacolod including his flights until he was admitted in the hospital, we are doing our very best to tract all those people that he got contact with,” she said.
Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, chairman of Bacolod City Inter-Agency Task Force against Covid-19, said they are now tracing the places that have been visited by the patient.
“We are doing our best to locate all those places so we can inform the people in the areas,” he said.
Dr. Grace Tan, spokesperson of Bacolod City Inter-Agency Task Force against Covid-19, said as of March 20, Bacolod has a total of 11 PUIs, seven males and four females, and in stable condition.
The task force earlier recorded a total of 12 PUIs and six of them were already discharged on Thursday with improved condition and sent home with appropriate instructions from the hospitals and to be followed by the Barangay Health Emergency Response Team (BHERT).
Tan said of 11 PUIs, six of them were previously admitted and five were newly identified.
The task force also recorded a total of 1, 123 persons under monitoring (PUMs) in Bacolod City.
Tan said the city’s PUIs and PUMs have travel history from abroad and local.
She said since the start, the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) forwarded them a total of 13 negative laboratory test results and one positive for Covid-19.
She added they are still waiting for the laboratory results of the 11 PUIs.
Tan urged the public not to withhold their travel history from the countries affected with Covid-19 so that they will be monitored to prevent the possible spread of the Covid-19.
“We need the cooperation of everybody here to prevent the spread of Covid-19,” Tan said.
Covid-19 is characterized by mild symptoms, including a runny nose, sore throat, cough, and fever.
“Please stay at home and always practice proper hand washing, develop a healthy lifestyle, cough etiquette, observe social distancing, avoid handshake, kiss, and hug to avoid spread of Covid-19. Let’s pray and ask God to intervene in our situation,” Tan said.
Ben Arnel Dela Cruz, development management officer of the DOH-Western Visayas, said that the 56-year-old man will be the first positive record for Covid-19 in Western Visayas.