Pakistani from Ilagan City dies of COVID-19

Many COVID-19 patients in Cagayan province are being isolated and treated at the Cagayan Valley Medical Center in Tuguegarao City. The hospital’s molecular laboratory is already operational. Photo by Villamor Visaya Jr.

TUGUEGARAO CITY –– A 53-year-old Pakistani national from Ilagan City has died of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while being treated for complications at a hospital here, authorities said.

Dr. Glenn Mathew Baggao, Cagayan Valley Medical Center (CVMC) chief, said the patient was first admitted to the Isabela Doctors General Hospital in Ilagan City due to pneumonia, diabetes, heart disease, fever, and cough.

The man later tested positive for the virus based on a swab test and was transferred to the CVMC here for intubation on Saturday but died there.

Baggao said the patient, who became the region’s 17th fatality related to COVID-19, had no known travel history except when going to the Baligatan public market, where he and his Filipina wife have a stall.

Nineteen other COVID-19 patients were isolated at the CVMC, 15 of whom came from Cagayan while four came from Isabela.

Two suspected COVID-19 patients had also died, one each in Allacapan and Solana towns, pending the results of their swab tests, Baggao added.

LZB