DOH confirms first COVID-19 case in Caraga Region
BUTUAN CITY, Apr. 6 (PIA) — The Department of Health (DOH) Caraga confirms the first positive case of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the region.
DOH Caraga Regional Director Dr. Jose Llacuna, Jr. says the patient is a 68-year old Filipino male who has a pre-existing medical condition of chronic obstructive lung disease and diabetes.
The patient was also found to have traveled from the National Capital Region and arrived in Butuan City on March 12, three days before Pres. Rodrigo Duterte imposed a travel ban in Luzon.
Upon arrival, the patient was subjected to monitoring and had developed symptoms of the disease during home quarantine. He was admitted at the Caraga Regional Hospital in Surigao City on March 29 and is currently in stable condition.
The Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of DOH Caraga is currently conducting a contact tracing of persons who have interacted or was situated within close proximity of the patient and his flight details.
Dr. Llacuna, Jr. calls on the public to follow the health protocol of the authorities religiously, especially the stay at home policy.
“We must take this matter seriously. Our best weapon is to always practice social distancing, as the virus cannot thrive over the lack of hosts,” he says.
He also reminds everyone to verify local news pertaining COVID-19 and always confirm such information on the agency’s website and Facebook page, DOH – Center for Health and Development Caraga.
Meanwhile, the health agency is set to provide technical assistance to the city government of Butuan for the rapid testing for the patients under investigation (PUIs) admitted in the hospital annex or the designated PUI Centers in the city.
The samples for the said tests will be delivered to the Southern Philippine Medical Center for a confirmatory reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test to detect the viral load in the samples.
As of April 5, there are 12 PUIs in the region, wherein four are currently admitted and eight are under strict home quarantine. (PIA-Caraga)
source https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1038191