ZAMBOANGA CITY — Three more suspected coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients here recently died, bringing to 21 the total number of persons under investigation (PUI) who died in this city, according to the report from the Zamboanga City Task Force COVID-19 as of Monday, April 13.
Of those who died, five tested negative of COVID-19, Dr. Dulce Miravite, city health officer, said.
The first PUI death here was recorded on March 21.
Miravite said 15 of those who died came from this city while six had been from nearby provinces of Zamboanga Sibugay and Basilan’s Maluso town.
Among those who died while still awaiting the results of their tests from the Research Institute on Tropical Medicine (RITM) was a doctor whom the DOH did not name.
Four of the deaths were not tested, the report said.
Miravite said all PUIs who died were entitled to decent burial but five of those who died were buried in Barangay Talabaan, a designated mass grave here for unclaimed bodies.
On Friday, April 10, Miravite said 14 suspected COVID-19 cases died at the Zamboanga City Medical Center, three at separate private hospitals and one at home.