SEVENTEEN close contacts of the 21-year-old Covid-19 patient from Barangay Lumbia, Cagayan de Oro City tested negative for the coronavirus that causes the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), Mayor Oscar Moreno said on Monday, May 11.
The 17 close contacts are the relatives, watchers, and friends of the 21-year-old man who succumbed to the virus on May 6 after weeks of fighting for his life.
City Health Office (CHO) epidemiologist Dr. Joselito Retuya also said Monday that swabs were already taken for testing from the six close relatives of another Covid-19 patient, a 61-year-old female from Barangay Carmen.
Among the six close contacts of the 61-year-old woman is her daughter. At present, all six contacts are staying in the city isolation unit.
Meanwhile, the stricter enforcement of the general community quarantine in Pinitikan, Barangay Camaman-an, Cagayan de Oro City is expected to conclude at the end of the week.
Retuya said the last exposure to the Covid-19-positive patient in Pinitikan was recorded on April 23.
Barangay Carmen, on the other hand, will still continue to undergo stricter enforcement of the general community quarantine.
Also last week, 52 doctors, nurses and other health workers of the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) who were feared exposed to Covid-19 all tested negative for the virus, City Health Office Epidemiologist Dr. Teodulfo Joselito Retuya said.
The health workers were quarantined and swabbed after they were seen to be at "moderate risk" because of the confinement of the 21-year-old patient.
The patient who is the fourth Cagay-anon on record to have been infected with Covid-19, died on May 6.