Dr. Elizbeth Samama, Maguindanao provincial health office head. (File photo courtesy of BPI-BARMM)
COTABATO CITY – Three more patients in Maguindanao have been tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), raising the total number of confirmed cases to 17 in the province.
Dr. Elizabeth Samama, Maguindanao provincial health chief, said the three new patients were all females aged 13, 14 and 18. “The three are siblings of a 20-year-old female who was one of the students 'rescued' from Cebu City last month,” Samama said.
Samama said the three girls were exposed to their elder sister who tested negative when earlier subjected to a rapid test.
She said 16 students from Cebu City arrived in Maguindanao on May 16.
They took a vessel from Cebu to Cagayan de Oro and by bus to the Maguindanao provincial hospital where they were all subjected to rapid tests and placed in an isolation center for the 14-day mandatory quarantine.
Of the 16, one showed symptoms associated with the virus while the rest were asymptomatic and remained in the isolation center.
“Each of them had individual rooms in the isolation center,” Samama said.
On Thursday last week, 11 more students from the same batch were confirmed to have Covid-19.
“The four who were all negative during the rapid test were allowed to go home with the promise to undergo self-home quarantine,” Samama said.
However, one of the four, who is the 20-year-old female, later tested positive along with her three younger sisters.
“They are now isolated at the back of the provincial hospital, including their parents and other persons they have close contact with,” Samama said.
Maguindanao's first Covid-19 patient, who was an attendee to the Matina cockfighting in Davao City, has already recovered. (PNA)
