DOH confirms local cases

The Department of Health (DOH) continues to validate the details of cases on the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and their concerned localities.

The local government of Las Piñas City on Thursday confirmed its first case of a patient who contracted the virus.

The patient is Case No. 36 of the 52 confirmed COVID-19 cases, the DOH said in a statement on Thursday.

Las Piñas case

He is a 53-year-old man with no travel history abroad and currently confined in Las Piñas General Hospital and Satellite Trauma Center.

“The surveillance team of the Las Piñas City Health Office is currently conducting contact tracing in all of the patient’s family members, all that he had close contact with and members of the community where he resides,” the statement said.

Mayors Imelda Aguilar has issued a memorandum suspending all official activities in the city, such as graduations, barangay assemblies, and other mass gatherings.

According to the DOH, Case Nos. 14, 15, 33, 34, 35, 41, 43 and 44 are all Filipinos who listed Makati as their residence, although they were confined in different hospitals in the metropolis.

A 38-year-old male Taiwanese (Case No. 7) was the first confirmed case in the city. Prior to his confinement in Makati Medical Center, he stayed in a hotel in the city, which the local government has yet to disclose.

List from hospital

Mayor Abby Binay has ordered contact tracing on the hotel staff, the Taiwanese national’s associates and all others who might have had contact with him during his stay in the city.

She also said the hospital has already compiled a list of personnel who attended to the patient which in turn was submitted to the Epidemiological Bureau.

As a precaution, the city government has canceled the Legaspi and Salcedo weekend markets.

It also indefinitely suspended the city’s walking tours in the central business district and in heritage sites in Barangay Poblacion.