SAR-CoV-2_Super closeup Coronavirus COVID-19 in human lung body background.
GUINOBATAN, Albay—Naga City in Camarines Sur has started tracing contacts who may have had significant exposure to its first healthcare worker who tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Naga City Mayor Nelson Legacion said in a statement that the 25-year-old male nurse was asymptomatic and that he was tested due to new protocols for detecting COVID-19 patients.
According to the Department of Health (DOH) in Bicol, the patient may have been exposed to another COVID-19 patient.
“As a result of the enhanced protocols for testing, which now includes health workers, said patient’s status was detected before exhibiting symptoms,” the mayor said.
The nurse, he said, was a resident of Dayangdang village, but was residing in San Felipe village.
He said that Naga City’s Incident Management Team (IMT) was determining the “potential risk to public safety” of this latest development in the city.
The patient consulted Bicol Medical Center on April 21, according to DOH Bicol.
On Wednesday evening, DOH reported that the nurse from Naga City tested positive for the disease along with two others in Albay towns Camalig and Guinobatan.
The three new cases bring the total number of infected healthcare workers in the Bicol region to five.