CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Authorities here listed as a case of recovery that of a patient who had tested positive for COVID-19 but later tested negative.
Dr. Jose Chan, chief of the state-run Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC), said the 71-year-old resident in one of the villages here was first tested positive for COVID-19 on March 24.
The patient, branded as PH 597 by the Department of Health (DOH), took a second test on April 7 or 14 days after his first test and turned out negative, according to Chan.
“We can say that this patient has recovered from COVID-19,” Chan told reporters at a press briefing at the city mayor’s office on Wednesday (April 8).
Chan said only one negative result was needed to declare an infected patient clear of COVID-SARS2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Data cited by Chan showed one of the patients, who had earlier been suspected of having COVID-19, died last Tuesday (April 7) of severe acute respiratory illness.
Two other patients suspected of being infected and diagnosed with the same serious illness are currently confined at NMMC. Chan said one of them is already on a ventilator.