ILOILO CITY –– A 74-year-old man has tested positive for COVID-19 on Semirara Island in Antique, the first confirmed infected person in the province.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Antique Gov. Rhodora Cadiao said the man, a resident of Paranaque City, arrived in Barangay Semirara on Semirara Island in Caluya town on March 9 on a private plane.
He sought consultation at the Semirara Mining Power Corp. (SMPC) Hospital for shortness of breathing on March 19 and was tested for COVID-19 on April 2.
Contact tracing is being conducted in Barangay Semirara, according to Cadiao.
The 5,500-hectare Semirara Island, 159 kilometers from the Antique mainland, is accessible only by private plane or hours of travel by motorboat.
The island hosts the country’s biggest coal producer, the SMPC, which has been operating one of the biggest coal mines in Asia since 1999. The SMPC, owned by David M. Consunji Inc., took over the then government-owned Semirara Mining Corp.
The Department of Health in Western Visayas has reported 36 COVID-19 cases in the region as of 8 a.m. of April 7.
These include six who have died and three who have recovered.
Another 391 persons have tested negative of the disease.