LEGAZPI CITY – Two patients tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), in Bicol, the Department of Health (DOH) confirmed Thursday.
The two new patients, tagged Bicol#65 and Bicol#66 bring the total number of cases in the region to 66.
Bicol#66, the 32-year-old man from Matnog in Sorsogon, was asymptomatic but was swabbed due to his history of travel in Florida state in the United States of America, according to DOH. He is Sorsogon’s first confirmed COVID-19 case.
The department did not specify when the patient’s day of arrival in Matnog was but said that he had his consultation in Sorsogon City at Dr. Fernando B. Duran Sr. Memorial Hospital, where he is admitted.
According to DOH, the patient had the consultation on May 8, over a month after he arrived in Manila on April 1.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases in Legazpi City has risen to 25.
Albay Provincial Health Office chief Dr. Antonio Ludovice told Inquirer that Bicol#66, a 21-year-old woman from Victory Village, was also asymptomatic.
She, however, had a history of exposure to another patient, the jeepney driver who volunteered as a village driver during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ).