Ilocos Sur records first COVID-19 case
ILOCOS SUR, Mar. 29 (PIA) – The province of Ilocos Sur broke its COVID-19-free status after recording its first confirmed case of the viral disease on Saturday, March 28.
Governor Ryan Luis Singson said that the patient is a 55-year-old female who was initially brought to the Ilocos Sur District Hospital-Tagudin on March 21 due to loss of consciousness.
By choice, the patient was later transported to the province of La Union and was admitted in Bethany Hospital in San Fernando City on March 22 and was discharged on March 24.
According to Governor Singson, the family denied that the patient had developed symptoms when her medical history was being taken.
However, when local authorities probed further, they discovered that the patient began exhibiting symptoms such as cough, cold, and intermittent fever since March 18.
Known exposure is traceable to her own son who arrived from the United States of America on March 8, apparently with fever, body pains and sore throat.
She is a resident of Barangay Magsaysay in Tagudin, Ilocos Sur.
According to Singson, the barangay is now under extreme enhanced community quarantine or lockdown.
An extreme enhanced community quarantine prevents anyone from entering and leaving the said barangay, total lockdown will be observed to lessen the risk of transmission of the respiratory disease to other communities.
Further, an extensive contact tracing shall be conducted in relation to the patient.
All residents of Barangay Magsaysay, Tagudin, Ilocos Sur are also mandated to observe a strict home quarantine.
Based on the latest update from the Provincial Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EREID) for COVID-19, there are seven persons under investigation and 10,385 persons under monitoring in Ilocos Sur.
To date, the Department of Health in the Ilocos has recorded 13 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the entire region with 10 from the province of Pangasinan, two in La Union and this one in Ilocos Sur. (JCR/AMB/PIA Ilocos Sur)
source https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1037477