Negros Oriental Public Information Officer Bimbo Miraflor. (File photo)
DUMAGUETE CITY – The province of Negros Oriental does not have a new case of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) although test results of a number of suspected cases are still being awaited.
Capitol Public Information Officer (PIO) Bimbo Miraflor said that they are waiting for the results of throat swab tests from the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) of nine people who were earlier identified as patients under investigation (PUIs).
Miraflor said on Tuesday that three other PUIs whose test results were returned from the RITM this past weekend yielded negative of the virus.
Prior to the declaration of a general community quarantine in Negros Oriental, the province early this week also reported 264 persons under monitoring (PUMs) while 240 people were in the contact tracing list in Tayasan, the hometown of the first confirmed positive Covid-19 case here.
Known as PH 39 in the Department of Health’s (DOH) list of confirmed Covid-19 cases, the Tayasan councilor died Sunday at a private hospital here several days after confinement.
Miraflor disputed reports circulating on social media that the province has a second Covid-19 case, saying people might have misinterpreted a DOH report that recorded a male patient who is from Negros Oriental who tested positive of the virus but was admitted to a hospital outside of the province.
That person was among those who disembarked from a cruise ship and tested positive of Covid-19.
Miraflor said following the declaration placing Negros Oriental under general community quarantine, the terms PUI and PUM will no longer be used, and everyone is required to self-quarantine if they come down with symptoms.
Also, the responsibility for the monitoring of those who are symptomatic will now be under the Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs), he said.
The BHERTs now play a vital role in ensuring that people in their communities cooperate with authorities. If they monitor and verify persons exhibiting flu-like symptoms, they will report to and coordinate with the authorities, including the Provincial Epidemiology Surveillance Unit, the DOH, or the Provincial Health Office, Miraflor added. (PNA)
