COVID-19 POSITIVE. Two fishermen under quarantine at a patient care center in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental have tested positive for Covid-19. A total of 171 fishermen from Negros Oriental and nearby provinces have been quarantined since May 21 following their arrival here from a fishing expedition. (File photo by Judy Flores Partlow)
DUMAGUETE CITY – Two of the 164 fishermen who are under quarantine at a government-designated patient care center (PCC) here have tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Negros Oriental Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Estacion made the announcement Sunday at a press briefing in this capital city after having received the go-signal from the Department of Health in Region 7 (DOH-7).
Estacion said the two are from Ayungon, Negros Oriental and Samboan, Cebu.
They were brought to the Covid-19 isolation facility at the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital (NOPH) here on Saturday evening following the return of the first batch of swab test results, she said.
Both confirmed cases are asymptomatic, she added.
Estacion further said throat swabs were again done on the two fishermen for repeat confirmatory testing in Cebu City.
She assured the public there is “very little risk” of community transmission here because the fishermen have been under quarantine since May 21 and have not been exposed to other people.
The fishermen arrived in Negros Oriental on May 17 onboard the fishing vessel Phillip D.R., which dropped anchor off the coast of Jilocon in the town of San Jose.
A dead fisherman on board was removed on the same day under suspicion of Covid-19 and was cremated immediately.
The fishing vessel’s ship captain had died last April 19 had tested positive for Covid-19, said Adrian Sedillo, executive director of the provincial Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
A third fisherman, a checker, had died on April 12 but not due to the virus, while the one from Sibulan had died on May 12 but was never tested for Covid-19, he added.
Estacion has reassured the public this is not a locally-acquired transmission of the coronavirus, as she believes the confirmed cases were already infected prior to their arrival here.
“There was limited exposure to these fishermen since they were contained at the PCC from the time they disembarked from the fishing vessel, and they are under tight security watch,” she said.
The fishermen are well-behaved and it is not true that one of them had allegedly escaped from the PCC, she added.
Estacion said she received the first batch of test results Saturday night, although she did not say how many fishermen were included, while awaiting further results from Cebu City where the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests are being done.
Aside from the 164 fishermen at the PCC in this capital city, seven others are also under quarantine at their hometown of San Jose.
Meanwhile, Estacion said while the fishermen are scheduled to end the 14-day mandatory quarantine on June 5, their stay at the PCC might have to be extended depending on the test results.
She also disclosed that 24 of them have been diagnosed with tuberculosis and other illnesses and are now receiving treatment. (PNA)
