STRICT MEASURE. A health worker (in red jacket) checks on motorists using a thermal scanner while a soldier (far right) mans the checkpoint by inspecting a cargo truck as the city implements the enhanced community quarantine against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) starting Monday (March 23, 2020). The provincial epidemiology and surveillance unit said Kidapawan and the rest of North Cotabato province remain Covid-19 free. (Photo courtesy of North Cotabato PIO)
COTABATO CITY -- North Cotabato’s Provincial Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (PESU) said the area remains free from coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) despite having suspected cases of infection across the province.
As of Monday, health officials said the province has 43 patients under investigation (PUIs) who are in their respective homes and private hospitals and will be transferred to the provincial hospital soon.
North Cotabato Governor Nancy Catamco said the areas that have PUIs includes Kidapawan City with 17 and the towns of Midsayap with 7; Makilala – 6; M’lang – 4; Kabacan – 3; Arakan -3; Pikit – 2, and Matalam – 1. Of the 43 PUIs, 32 are on home quarantine and are closely being monitoring by government health personnel.
The number of PUIs reached 54 last week although 11 have recently been cleared, with Kidapawan City registering nine cleared patients and one each from the towns of Pikit and Makilala.
“They (PUIs) are not actually in serious condition but our health authorities considered them PUIs because they have traveled abroad or in Luzon where high cases of Covid-19 were reported,” the governor said in a local radio interview Monday.
Catamco said that should the health conditions of the remaining 43 PUIs worsen--or if the swab test results from Davao City’s Southern Philippines Medical Center confirm they are Covid-19 positive--they will be transferred in isolation rooms.
In Kidapawan City, a motel operator has volunteered to temporarily convert their rooms into Covid-19 isolation quarters. Local officials earlier announced the conversion of some 50 classrooms of the Kidapawan City Pilot Elementary School (KCPES) as isolation facility for possible Covid-19 patients.
Meanwhile, PESU said that it is also closely observing 1,448 persons under monitoring (PUMs) in the region.
The number of PUMs includes 364 persons who recently traveled abroad and 1,084 from Luzon. Of the 1,084 PUMs, 277 have completed their 14-day home quarantine.
Kidapawan City has the most number of PUMs at 294, composed of 82 who came from abroad and 212 from Luzon.
North Cotabato has been placed under a preemptive lockdown since March 17, 2020. (PNA)
