GUINOBATAN, Albay – Two more nurses in Albay province tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on Wednesday, bringing the total number of frontliners who have contracted the virus in the Bicol region to 16, according to Department of Health (DOH).
This brings the overall number of cases in the region to 49, three of whom are village officials while 13 are health workers.
Bicol#48 is a 46-year-old woman who resides at Tabon-Tabon village in Daraga town while Bicol#49 is a 31-year-old woman from a subdivision in Washington Drive in Legazpi City, Dr. Antonio Ludovice of Albay Provincial Health Office told Inquirer.
Ludovice said that while Bicol#48 is asymptomatic, Bicol#49 experienced loss of smell and taste. Both patients were swabbed on Monday (May 4).
Both nurses were assigned at the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital (BRTTH) Laboratory Section.
As of this writing, both nurses were undergoing quarantine at BRTTH, Ludovice said.
Both new cases were close contacts of another COVID-19 patient, tagged Bicol#41, a medical technologist assigned to take swabs from suspected COVID-19 patients.