Health workers’ risks in focus in Iligan as 4 infected with coronavirus

ILIGAN CITY—The risks that health workers take during the COVID-19 pandemic were in focus as four health professionals contracted SARS Cov2, the virus that causes the highly contagious disease, among six new patients here, according to the city’s Inter Agency Task Force on Tuesday (Aug. 4).

Dr. Cherlina Cañaveral, city health officer, said results of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test, which detects antigens, on the four health workers were released on Aug. 3, showing they were positive for coronavirus.

The four health workers had cared for a 61-year-old female nurse who was the city’s 58th COVID-19 patient.

The four included a 63-year old woman living at the village of Tomas Capili, a 44 year old man from the village of Palao, a 26-year-old woman of Cabili village and a 56-year old woman from the village of Ubaldo Laya.

Of the four, only the 26-year old patient showed symptoms of COVID-19 while the rest had none.

Cañaveral said the four infected health workers were already confined to a facility here along with family members who had been exposed to them.

Aside from the four health workers, two more new cases brought to 64 the total number of COVID-19 cases in the city.

Two of the patients are men, a 64-year-old and a 25-year-old, both from Villaverde village. They have no symptoms but had been put on quarantine.

The city is implementing selective lockdowns in communities where the two men lived.

Canaveral said the city health office also has to limit its services on Tuesday to focus on risk assessment and contact tracing.

The city health office posted an announcement on its doors saying only animal bite injections and forensic services for prisoners and detainees are being accommodated.

Issuance of medical certificates was also put on hold within the 14-day quarantine period, which means people who have plans of leaving the city would have to stay put until the health office resumes its full services.

TSB