Ambo halts COVID-19 contact tracing in Camarines Norte town

A woman carries her child on their way home to Barangay Padang in Legazpi City on Friday after spending the night at an emergency shelter where they hunkered down expecting the worst from “Ambo,” the first storm to hit the country as it grappled with the COVID-19
pandemic. —MARK ALVIC ESPLANA

LEGAZPI CITY — Tropical Storm Ambo (international name: Vongfong) has temporarily halted the contact tracing operations in Camarines Norte, where one coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patient has died early Friday.

Bicol#61, a 45-year-old patient in Labo town, tested negative for COVID-19 during his second swab on Thursday, but the Department of Health (DOH) in Bicol has urged the authorities to continue the contact tracing to prevent and control the spread of the virus in the community because the patient was not declared “fully recovered” despite the negative test result.

Two negative results in 14-day intervals are necessary in determining whether a patient has fully recovered from COVID-19.

Dr. Arnel Francisco, Camarines Norte’s health incident commander, said that before Typhoon Ambo, 15 of the 16 contacts were already swabbed to determine whether they have acquired the coronavirus. The provincial health office has also profiled 15 more contacts of the patient.

It is still unclear when the contact tracing in Labo town will resume.

The patient, earlier reported to be a “possible case” of reinfection, was confirmed by the DOH to be a COVID-19 death.

“The official death certificate listed cerebrovascular accident as the antecedent cause; heat stroke as underlying cause; and moderate pneumonia, dengue fever with warning signs and COVID-19 as other significant conditions contributing to the death,” DOH Bicol chief Dr. Ernie Vera said in a statement.