ILOILO – A 14-day-old baby girl in Igbaras town suddenly died on Friday. When subjected to reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test, she turned out positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The baby was born on July 31 at the San Joaquin Mother & Child Hospital in San Joaquin town, according to Igbaras’ Mayor Jaime Esmeralda. They were discharged for a few days as the baby was in a good condition. Per protocol, the mother and child were then home quarantined.
They returned to the hospital for a follow-up check-up eight days after.
On Aug. 10, they went to the Rural Health Unit (RHU) of Igbaras for the baby’s BCG (Bacillus Calmette–Guérin) shot, a vaccine primarily used against tuberculosis.
The following day, the baby had rashes on the injection site.
“Ti gindala pagka-Huwebes sa sentro,” Esmeralda said.
Doctors recommended an anti-allergy medication.
On the night of Aug. 12, Esmeralda, a medical doctor by profession, said the baby became dyspneic (ginhapo) and had episodes of cyanosis (nagpalanggit-om).
“Gindala sa akon ti pagkita ko nga nagpalanggit-om wala na ako nagpangduhaa-duha nga i-diretso sa Guimbal,” Esmeralda said.
The baby died at the Rep. Pedro Trono Memorial District Hospital.
“Gin-swab dayun ang bata; nag-positive (for COVID),” added Esmeralda.
Based on the baby’s death certificate, the cause of death was neonatal sepsis secondary to neonatal pneumonia, and COVID-19.
The baby girl was the youngest coronavirus fatality in Region 6 yet. She was immediately buried at the town’s public cemetery.
Family members were quarantined and would be subjected to RT-PCR testing today (Aug. 16).
More or less 30 health workers – some doctors and midwives – were also quarantined after being included in the contact tracing. They will also be swabbed today. When they turn out negative, they could resume duty on Tuesday.
As of Aug. 14, Igbaras had 341 total confirmed COVID cases – 54 were active, 280 recovered and seven deaths./PN
