CAGAYAN DE ORO—A three-year-old boy from Malabang, Lanao del Sur died at a hospital in Cotabato City on Saturday, July 18, becoming the 4th coronavirus disease (COVID-19) fatality in the province.
Lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, the Minister for Interior and Local Government in Bangsamoro, said the child was already too sick when he was admitted at the Cotabato Regional Medical Center (CRMC) in Cotabato City on Friday, July 17.
“The doctors in Malabang could not make out his symptoms so they sent the boy here in Cotabato City,” he said.
Sinarimbo said the boy tested positive for the SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19, through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT -PCR) test.
Lanao del Sur Inter-Agency COVID-19 Task Force focal person Shiela Ganda said the boy was the fourth person from Lanao del Sur to have died of COVID-19.
This developed as the influx of returning residents to the province did not stop despite the July 1 moratorium order issued by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who also co-chairs the National Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases, Ganda said.
Lorenzana suspended the flow of returning residents to Lanao del Sur from July 1 to July 15 after Governor Mamintal Adiong complained that the influx had been threatening the province’s medical frontliners.
“The flow did not stop and everyday we see more residents arriving at the Laguindingan Airport and the ports of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro,” Ganda said.
She said a total of 1, 441 residents had arrived here between July 6 to 15.
Ganda said six new COVID-19 cases from among the returning residents had been reported as of July 19, bringing to 158 the total number of COVID-19 cases in the province.