Puerto Princesa City confirms first case of COVID-19

Pinulong ni Mayor Lucilo Bayron ng Puerto Princesa ang bumubuo ng Inter-Agency Task Force COVID-19 kahapon para sa magiging rekomendasyon ng pagdedeklara ng state of calamity sa lungsod. (Larawan mula sa Puerto Princesa City Government Official Facebook Page) 

PUERTO PRINCESA, Palawan, Marso 21 (PIA) – Puerto Princesa City Mayor Lucilo Bayron confirmed this morning the first case of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) after the result was conveyed last night, three days after the patient has left the country.

He said that the Patient Under Investigation (PUI) is a male Australian national who was admitted at the Ospital ng Palawan (ONP) after experiencing some symptoms of the disease while vacationing in Port Barton, San Vicente. He was discharged from the hospital on March 15.

“Nagkasakit na ito noong March 13, at nagpatingin sa isang midwife, tapos diniretso sa ospital natin sa siyudad. March 14 siya kinunan ng sample, pagka March 15 lumabas na ito ng ONP dahil mag se-self quarantine daw sa isang hotel at okay naman ang pakiramdam,” said Bayron. (He fell ill on March 13 and went to a local midwife who referred him to ONP in the city. In the hospital,  specimen was swabbed, and on March 15 he was already discharged  for self-quarantine because he was feeling okay.)

The Mayor said that the Australian national entered the country on March 5, arrived in Puerto Princesa City on March 7 and went directly to Port Barton in San Vicente municipality located about 160 kilometers northwest of Puerto Princesa City.

Bayron said that the PUI left Puerto Princesa City on March 17 taking the flight to Clark International Airport.

It was yesterday, Marso 20, that the result from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), came out and turned out that he was positive for COVID-19.

The city government is now intensifying its contact tracing procedures and coordinating with other local government units and the provincial government for assistance in the procedure. It was the vehicle of the  provincial government through its Palawan Rescue 165 that fetched the patient from Port Barton bringing him to the ONP on March 13. 

This is the first positive case of COVID-19 in the province.  (LBD/PIAMIMAROPA)

 

 

source https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1036800