Cock derby, wake could spread virus, experts warn

DAVAO CITY, Davao del Sur, Philippines — Two crowd-drawing events in Mindanao have worried local health practitioners who say these could lead to a spike in cases of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) here.

A multimillion-peso derby held in the city early this month had drawn tens of thousands of people from different parts of the country for six straight days, while a seven-day wake of a person who died after test results confirmed him positive for the virus was held in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat.

Amid their fears of a COVID-19 spread, health authorities have largely kept mum about the events.

As early as Feb. 10, Mayor Sara Duterte canceled all crowd-drawing events leading to the Araw ng Davao, the city’s charter day anniversary on March 16, to stop the spread of the virus that was then raging in Wuhan, China.

But barely a month later, on March 6 to March 13, a six-cock derby promising millions of pesos in prizes pushed through at New Matina Gallera.

Duterte issued an advisory on March 22 urging those who had been to the event to quarantine themselves for 14 days. It came two days after a patient suspected for COVID-19 who was at the derby died in a hospital where he was admitted for flu-like symptoms.

Unconfirmed

Reports of more deaths of people who had been to the event made the rounds on social media and through private chat groups, but these remained unconfirmed.

The Department of Health’s COVID-19 tracker on Saturday, however, showed that four persons under investigation for the virus had died in the Davao region as of March 28.

Cases in the region rose to 30 from only six the previous day. Health officials, however, did not specify if the number included those who had been to the cockfighting event.

In Digos and Tagum, officials admitted that the first confirmed COVID-19 cases in their cities were persons who had been to the derby.

In Tacurong City, health authorities raced against time in tracing people who had attended the wake of the COVID-19 fatality in San Pablo village from March 14 to March 21.

The 87-year-old man, tagged as PH600, died of respiratory disease, but his test results came out only on March 25.

“We appeal to all those who had close contact with [the] patient, his immediate relatives, and people who joined the wake. We are concerned for your health, please get in touch with your village officials,” Dr. Giovanni Deles, city health officer, said in a statement on Saturday. “Anyone who knows of anybody who came to the wake, please alert our health front-liners so we can save lives.”

Health officials were also looking for an embalmer.

The patient had been in and out of a private hospital due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease secondary to COVID-19.

—REPORTS FROM GERMELINA LACORTE, SAMANTHA BURGOS, MART SAMBALUD, ELDIE AGUIRRE, KARLOS MANLUPIG AND EDWIN FERNANDEZ INQ