CITY OF CALAPAN, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines – Three new positive cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were recorded in Oriental Mindoro, bringing the total confirmed cases in the province to five.
Oriental Mindoro Gov. Humerlito Dolor made the announcement on Saturday, after receiving a report from the Department of Health (DOH) citing test results from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.
According to the result, Patient 53, an 87-year-old male resident of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, but who was temporarily in Barangay Canubing 1 in this city, first arrived here on Jan. 15 for hospitalization. But he was released as he had no travel history in places with COVID-19 positive cases.
Patient 53 was again admitted to another hospital in Calapan on Jan. 31 because of stroke, causing weakness on the right side of his body. He was discharged when his condition improved.
But he was again brought to the hospital on April 6 due to difficulty in breathing. He died while undergoing treatment.
He was buried following strict protocols of the DOH while waiting for the result of his COVID-19 test.
Patient 54, a 4-year-old boy from Barangay Hagan in Bongabong was said to be a Mangyan. He also had no travel history in places with COVID-19 cases before he was brought to the hospital on April 2 due to difficulty in breathing.
He had a fever, which, according to his father, he had been getting on and off for more than a month. He had tuberculosis and severe malnutrition.
According to doctors, the child is stable and just had a blood transfusion because of anemia.
His parents and three siblings are asymptomatic of COVID-19.
A new specimen will be taken from the child for confirmatory test after three days that he is asymptomatic.
The third case is Patient 55, a 3-year-old boy from Barangay Sto. Niño (Nacoco) in Calapan. He has no travel history from places with COVID-19 cases.
He was admitted to a hospital since April 4 for high-grade fever and seizure. He has perihilar pneumonia but is in stable condition. He is also scheduled for specimen taking for a confirmatory test.
The mother, who is looking after the child, has no symptoms of COVID-19.
Contact tracing is being undertaken to put those who have interacted with the patients on strict quarantine for 14 days.
Since the origin of the cases had not been traced, including the first two cases in the province, Dolor requested everyone to follow all rules.
Meanwhile, five other patients tested negative of COVID-19.
/atm