COVID-19 recovery: Albay town free of virus after 19 days

GUINOBATAN, Albay — The last COVID-19 patient here has recovered after tests using DNA, called polymerase chain reaction (PCR), showed no more trace of SARS Cov2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to Mayor Ann Ongjoco on Wednesday (April 15).

The lockdown in the compound where where the four cured COVID-19 patients live would remain in place for 14 more days, however, the mayor told Inquirer.

A grandchild of one of the patients has been swabbed and the samples submitted for tests, Ongjoco said. Results could come by Thursday (April 16), the mayor added.

The child, however, did not show any symptoms.

The town’s first COVID-19 patient was branded PH1320 and was also Bicol region’s fourth case.

The patient’s relatives, who live with her in a compound here, have since been infected as well but none were in a life-threatening situation.

Ongjoco told Inquirer that doctors found PH1320 to have “a lot of viral load” which made her recovery slow and which meant she also had a high chance of transmitting the virus to others.

Her 65-year-old husband and 40-year-old son tested negative for the virus on April 7. Another relative, a 31-year-old woman, tested negative last Tuesday (April 14).

Edited by TSB