ILIGAN CITY – A seafarer who arrived here and a 21-year-old patient in Cagayan de Oro City are the latest patients to test positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the two cities.
Dr. Bernard Rocha, a medical specialist at Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) in Cagayan de Oro, said Saturday the 21-year-old patient who was admitted at the hospital on April 19 figured in a vehicular accident and underwent a spinal operation on April 21. He was later transferred to a privately-owned hospital on April 22.
Rocha said the patient was tested for Covid-19 after showing symptoms of pneumonia. After he was found positive for the virus, he was transferred back to NMMC--the region's primary referral center for Covid-19.
He said the 31 health workers who attended to the patient have been placed under quarantine.
"The patient is awake, although he is currently intubated and receiving medical treatment. We can't say he's stable, but we can't also say he's critical," Rocha said.
Cagayan de Oro City's health officer and resident epidemiologist, Dr. Joselito Retuya, said health workers are also contact tracing persons who were in close contact with the patient, including those who responded to the site where the patient had a vehicular accident.
Meanwhile, one of the eight seafarers who arrived at Iligan port early morning on April 29 also tested positive for immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies in a rapid test before he was brought by the medical team to a quarantine facility in Lanao del Norte.
The eight overseas Filipino workers, who arrived from Manila on board the St. Michael The Archangel of 20GO Shipping, were among more than 300 repatriated from their work abroad.
Four of them are residents of Lanao del Norte, two of Lanao del Sur, and the two others are residents of the Iligan.
Lyndon Calica, commander of the Incident Command Center of Lanao del Norte’s Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Covid-19, said the seafarer who was found positive for the virus is a resident of Kapatagan town.
“We have the same sentiments with MisOcc (Misamis Occidental) that the people in Manila should have properly facilitated the certification of the OFWs and they should (have) announced it ahead; they should coordinate with the LGUs (local government units) concern,” Calica said in a phone interview.
The seafarer, whose last country of assignment was Italy, “is okay” and is strictly monitored by the Health Emergency Response Team (HEART) at the provincial isolation Calica said.
The three others are quarantined at their respective LGUs, he added.
Hours before they arrived at Iligan port, five seafarers, who are going home in Ozamiz City and some parts of Misamis Occidental, disembarked at Ozamiz port from the same vessel.
One of them also tested positive in a rapid test before they were brought to different isolation areas and now awaiting the result of the confirmatory RT-PCR test.
The two other seafarers, who were fetched by the medical team of Lanao del Sur IATF, were sent directly to the provincial quarantine facility in Marawi City, said Zia Alonto Adiong, spokesperson of the LDS-IATF.
“They were housed at the quarantine facility to undergo the recommended minimum of 14-day quarantine,” Adiong said. (PNA)
