ILOILO City – So far, Western Visayas’ youngest confirmed case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a three-year-old girl from Pandan, Antique.
“This is a new record for the region,” according to Dr. May Ann Soliva-Sta. Lucia, head of the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6’s Health Promotion division.
This Patient No. 75 is one of the eight new cases of the viral disease announced by DOH yesterday.
How the little girl got infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is yet to be determined. She is currently in isolation at a hospital.
Sta. Lucia said DOH-6 already started gathering information about this case.
Prior to the girl’s case, DOH-6 recorded six COVID-19 cases in Pandan. These were the following:
* 32-year-old male (Patient No. 50)
* 28-year-old male (Patient No. 51)
* 33-year-old female (Patient No. 52)
* 68-year-old male (Patient No. 49)
* 69- year-old male (Patient No. 61)
* 56-year-old male (Patient No. 60)
* 69-year-old male (Patient No. 39)
It was unclear as this was being written if the girl was related to any of these patients.
People can catch COVID-19 from others who have the virus. 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.
Meanwhile, the seven other new cases in Western Visayas were the following:
* 55-year-old female from Arevalo, Iloilo City (Patient No. 73), facility quarantine
* 30-year-old female from Banga, Aklan (Patient No. 74), repatriate and facility quarantine
* 33-year-old-male from Dingle, Iloilo (Patient No. 76), repatriate and admitted
* 30-year-old male from Iloilo City Proper (Patient No. 77), repatriate and admitted
* 43- year-old female from Arevalo, Iloilo City (Patient No. 78) facility quarantine
* 57-year-old female from Arevalo, Iloilo City (Patient No. 79) facility quarantine
* 48-year-old female from Arevalo, Iloilo City (Patient No. 80), facility quarantine
Sta. Lucia said DOH-6 has also started gathering information (medical and travel history) about the four cases from Arevalo district.
Contact tracing has also been launched.
There were reports that these four Arevalo cases came from same barangay as the region’s Patient No. 66 – a 48-year-old male also from Arevalo.
Sta. Lucia said DOH-6 is leaving it to the city government to decide what to do next.
“It should analyze the extent of the spread within the barangay and identify possible interventions,” she said.
Region-wide, there are now 80 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of these, eight are still hospitalized, eight on home quarantine and 23 on facility quarantine.
Thirty-one patients have so far recovered while 10 died.
Here’s the breakdown of cases per area:
* Aklan – six
* Antique – 14
* Capiz – five
* Iloilo province – 18
* Negros Occidental – two
* Bacolod City – nine
* Iloilo City – 13
* Repatriates – 13 (Aklan, one; Guimaras, one; Iloilo province, three; Negros Occidental, two; Iloilo City, six)/PN
Military detonates unexploded bombs in Bago City
BY MAE SINGUAY
BACOLOD City – A team of explosives and ordnance disposal experts from the military detonated five explosives yesterday in Barangay Busay, Bago City, Negros Occidental.
Philippine Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade spokesperson, Major Franco Ver Lopez, said they received a resident that a farmer unearthed a fragmentation grenade in his rice field.
Bago City police, several local officials, and local residents responded to the area and found more explosive devices.
Among the recoveries included one fragmentation grenade, a rifle grenade, a projectile grenade, and two fuse assemblies.
Major John Joel Batusbatusan, Bago City police chief, then requested assistance from the 303IB’s Explosives and Ordnance Disposal Battalion to safely dispose of the items.
Personnel from the 1st platoon and 2nd company of the disposal battalion facilitated the process.
Meanwhile, 303IB commander, Army Colonel Inocencio Pasaporte, lauded the attentiveness of the local populace as mishandling explosives could have caused serious injuries and loss of life./PN
