Bicol’s 35th COVID-19 case is another frontliner

LEGAZPI CITY — Another frontliner has contracted coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bicol, the Department of Health (DOH) announced on Friday.

According to DOH Bicol, the 40-year-old male patient first experienced symptoms on Saturday (April 18) and consulted Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital (BRTTH) in Legazpi City four days later.

He is the 11th COVID-19 patient from Legazpi City and the sixth frontline worker from the Bicol region to have contracted coronavirus.

Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal said that the patient was a resident of Victory Village, a settlement where houses lie very close to each other.

Both DOH and the mayor did not specify what service the frontliner was from, but information gathered by Inquirer indicate that he was not in the medical field.

Rosal said that even if the patient was already admitted to BRTTH since Monday, the village had to be locked down.

“We need to lock down the village because the houses there are very close to each other,” he said. “No one from that village will be allowed to go outside tonight (Friday).”

This development came only a few hours after the department announced that they will prioritize frontline workers and patients who have severe symptoms of the disease and history of travel and exposure for the expanded testing.

DOH Bicol said that next in line for the expanded testing would be patients and health workers with mild symptoms but are vulnerable because of age, preexisting conditions and other factors; followed by patients and health workers with mild symptoms and history of travel to infected places; and then patients and health workers with no symptoms by had travelled to infected places.

JPV