More frontliners fall ill in virus fight

CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija, Philippines — Four nurses, a nursing attendant and two medical technologists in the front line of the fight against the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic were among the 10 new confirmed cases in Nueva Ecija as of Monday, according to a report from the province’s interagency task force.

This brought to 40 the number of COVID-19 cases in the province. Fifteen of them have recovered and two have died since the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine was enforced early last month.

In Tarlac, a 30-year-old nurse who was caring for a COVID-19 patient became the province’s 21st case. Tagged as TP 182, the woman assisted TP 52 at Ospital ning Capas on March 22.

In Isabela province, a 40-year-old health worker in Cauayan City became the 27th patient in Cagayan Valley.Twenty of the 27 patients have already recovered.

In Baguio City, a doctor and a city employee who caught the virus had recovered and were discharged on Monday and Tuesday from Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center.

Dr. Manuel Kelley and Joel Junsay of the city health office were among the five patients who went public to help medical workers track down people with whom they had interacted.In Davao City, the head of Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) has called on the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to procure a steady supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure the safety of hospital front-liners attending to patients.

“Our PPEs are largely from donations. This is not going to be sustainable, [so], we are asking the DOH and the DBM to procure a steady supply of PPEs … This will give confidence and lessen the risk [for] our front-liners,” said Dr. Leopoldo Vega, SPMC chief of hospital.

As of April 11, SPMC, which has been designated as satellite laboratory for the diagnosis of COVID-19 patients in Mindanao, had tested 1,908 suspected COVID-19 patients, 103 of them turned positive for the disease.

—REPORTS FROM ARMAND GALANG, MARIA ADELAIDA CALAYAG, GREG REFRACCION, VILLAMOR VISAYA JR. AND GERMELINA LACORTE