ZAMBOANGA CITY — A detainee in the city jail here, who died on April 20, has tested positive for coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that leads to the highly infectious COVID-19.
Dr. Dulce Miravite, Zamboanga City health officer and head of the local task force on COVID-19, said the 47-year-old inmate of the City Reformatory Center, was initially admitted on April 20 at the Mindanao Sanitarium Center due to shortness of breath.
The patient was brought to the hospital for a consultation, and due to his condition, he was tagged as a COVID-19 suspect.
Later that day, he was transferred to the Zamboanga City Medical Center where he passed away – while being attended to in the emergency room – due to respiratory failure with underlying pulmonary tuberculosis infection.
Contact tracing has been put in place and the people he was with at the city jail, including those who provided him medical attention, have been placed on isolation.
The jail management, in collaboration with the city government, has taken steps to contain the possible spread of the virus within the facility The jail has been on lockdown since March 20.
Tagged as ZC09, the patient is the second recorded death of a confirmed COVID-19 case in the city. The first was a 94-year-old woman.