BAGUIO CITY — A two-day-old baby girl was recorded as the 6th coronavirus disease (COVID-19) death in the summer capital on Wednesday (Aug. 12), according to the city information office.
Details of the baby’s death or of the condition of the mother have not been released as of press time. Initial reports said the baby’s parents will need further testing.
The baby girl was the second baby to contract the disease.
In April, doctors of a private hospital discovered that an 8-day-old baby contracted the virus during the Luzon lockdown.
Eight other patients have been recorded in Baguio on Wednesday. The total number of cases breached the hundred mark towards the end of July and was at 180 by August 9.
The rise in infections has been attributed to expanded tests of Baguio’s various sectors which now includes bank employees and grocery store employees who represent a substantial number of the new cases.
In an online lecture organized by the University of the Philippines Baguio on Wednesday, the city’s top infectious disease specialist said the biggest age group who have contracted COVID-19 were in the 25 to 34 year old bracket.
Some of those infected were part of the labor force that has resumed work when businesses were permitted to operate since the lockdown.
The first five fatalities also had other medical conditions when they contracted the virus, and three of them were elderly, said Dr. Donnabel Tubera-Panes of the City Health Services Office.
A little more than half of the patients who were treated for COVID-19 were female, she said, based on an analysis of the 180 cases.
She said people need to exert more effort at reducing movement and staying at home because 111 of the patients were asymptomatic or did not suffer symptoms despite being carriers of the virus.
Pregnant women have been listed as high-risk individuals along with senior citizens and people with ailments, due to their susceptibility to COVID-19.
But most of the patients have healed, Panes stressed.