ILOILO City – The island province of Guimaras has recorded its first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) death. A 68-year-old woman from Barangay Rizal in Jordan town lost her battle with the viral disease.
The patient, a known diabetic, hypertensive and asthmatic, passed away on Tuesday while being treated at the Dr. Catalino Gallego Nava Provincial Hospital, according to the Jordan Rural Health Unit (RHU).
“We have one confirmed COVID-19 death from Barangay Rizal. She was admitted this Monday morning at DCGNPH,” read part of the RHU’s announcement.
The elderly woman was Barangay Rizal’s first confirmed local case. Her direct contacts were subjected to reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test while her general contacts were placed under strict home quarantine.
Personnel of the RHU, as this was being written, could not yet determine the patient’s source of infection.
The disease can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales.
These droplets also land on objects and surfaces around the person. Other people then catch COVID-19 by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth.
As of Sept. 23, Jordan has a total of 21 confirmed COVID-19 cases, seven of which are active, 13 recovered and one death.
In the province of Guimaras, confirmed COVID-19 cases already reached 123 with 105 recoveries and 18 considered as active.
Of the total active cases, eight came from the municipality of Buenavista, seven from Jordan, two from San Lorenzo and one from Sibunag.
Five of the active cases are quarantined at the facilities in the province, four are home quarantined, three are admitted at the hospitals in the province and five are quarantined at the facilities in the city.
To date, the province of Antique is the only province in Western Visayas with no recorded death due to COVID-19./PN
