Albay nurse, close contact of asymptomatic COVID-19 patient, also tests positive

LEGAZPI CITY –– A nurse in Bacacay town in Albay has tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) after being exposed to an asymptomatic patient, according to the Department of Health in Bicol in a report released late Friday.

The new patient, a 42-year-old woman, works at the town’s rural health unit, said Dr. Antonio Ludovice, chief of Albay Provincial Health Office.

This new case brings the region’s total number of COVID-19 cases to 81, of whom 62 are in Albay.

According to DOH, she was a close contact of Bicol#77, who tested positive on June 5.

Bicol#81 also had a history of travel.

Ludovice told Inquirer that on May 31, she arrived from Sampaloc, Manila after accompanying her uncle, a cancer patient.

She was on board an ambulance from the city health unit
of Tabaco City.

If she acquired SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, from Bicol#77, she is not the first recorded patient infected by an asymptomatic patient in Bicol.

Previous reports indicate that at least four others tested positive after being identified as close contacts of asymptomatic patients.

Bicol#31 was a close contact of Bicol#21; Bicol#37 and Bicol#44 were close contacts of Bicol#35; and Bicol#62 was a close contact of Bicol#48. Bicol#21, Bicol#35, and Bicol#48 were all asymptomatic.

Ludovice said none of these patients were presymptomatic, or those who developed symptoms later.

“We believe that persons who are positive for the virus are carriers and can transmit the disease,” Ludovice told Inquirer.

LZB