CONFIRMED CASE. South Cotabato provincial health officer, Dr. Rogelio Aturdido Jr. announces during a press conference Tuesday (March 31) that a 52-year-old man who traveled from Manila to South Cotabato on March 15-16, 2020 is the first positive coronavirus disease 2019 case in the province. The patient has been isolated and is very cooperative with the health workers, officials say. (Photo by IPHO-South Cotabato)
KORONADAL CITY – A person under investigation (PUI) who is now under home quarantine in T’boli, South Cotabato has been tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), making it the first confirmed case of the deadly disease in the province.
Dr. Rogelio Aturdido Jr., chief of South Cotabato Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO), said on Tuesday the patient arrived from Manila last March 16.
The patient was admitted to a level 2 hospital on March 18 after showing signs and symptoms for Covid-19 like cough, sore throat, and colds, Aturdido said.
“He was discharged on March 23 from the hospital when the doctors found out he was feeling better but told to undergo self-quarantine in his home,” Aturdido said during a news conference.
The patient was put on quarantine until April 5.
As for the patient’s history of travel, Aturdido said the PUI traveled from Metro Manila to Cagayan de Oro City by boat on March 15. He took a Rural Transit Bus and disembarked in Koronadal City on March 16 where he boarded a van to T’boli town.
At the T’boli public market, he took a tricycle to his barangay. On March 18, he was admitted to the South Cotabato Provincial Hospital for coughs and fever where he was listed as PUI.
Aturdido appealed to the public not to panic because the male patient who has a lung problem followed the protocol imposed by the Department of Health (DOH) since he was discharged from the hospital.
“The village where the PUI resides was already contained by the municipal health office of T’boli,” he said.
The patient’s family, now considered as persons under monitoring (PUM), are also on 14-day home quarantine and isolated in their home.
The municipal health office of T’boli is also establishing who among his relatives have possible close contact with the PUI.
Aturdudo said contact tracing is underway, as they have also reported the travel history of the patient to the DOH.
“We would like to know the tricycle driver so we can help him, the van and its driver and possible passengers, we are looking for them for possible infection,” Aturdido said, admitting they have difficulty in finding people with close contact with the patient.
To prevent the spread of the disease, Aturdido reminded the public to maintain physical distancing and coughing etiquette.
To date, South Cotabato has nine confined PUIs. A total of 21 of the PUIs have earlier been discharged, all negative of the coronavirus.
Three persons listed earlier as PUIs have died in South Cotabato. Two of them were tested negative for the virus while the laboratory result of the third one is yet to be confirmed. (PNA)
