DUMAGUETE CITY, June 1 (PIA) -- Two new confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection were recorded in Negros Oriental.
Assistant Provincial Health Officer and Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) Commander Dr. Liland Estacion announced this in a media briefing yesterday at the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO).
The two cases of Covid-19 infection are the two fishermen who are part of the 164 fishermen or “pescador” who arrived in the province on May 17.
Around 153 of them are actual residents of Negros Oriental while the rest are residents of Cebu.
Swab samples were immediately taken from them after they disembarked from their fishing vessel, Philip D.R., which docked along the coast of San Jose town.
They were then brought to a designated quarantine facility for their 14-day quarantine.
The provincial government in Cebu also requested the provincial government here to allow their residents to stay in the same quarantine facility.
The two fishermen who tested positive for Covid-19 are the 30-year old resident of Ayungon town in Negros Oriental and a 40-year old resident of Samboan Cebu.
Both individuals are asymptomatic and they are currently placed in an isolation facility inside the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital (NOPH).
]Estacion disclosed that they learned the results of their swab tests on the eve of May 30 and they were immediately pulled out from the quarantine facility and were transferred inside the isolation facility at NOPH.
The assistant provincial health officer also clarified that the fishermen contracted the virus while they are onboard the fishing vessel, noting that the captain of the ship, who died while on hospital confinement in Metro Manila, also tested positive for Covid-19.
Estacion also dismissed the circulating reports that these fishermen acquired the virus through local transmission.
Another set of swab samples were taken from the fishermen yesterday and were sent to Cebu City for another round of confirmatory tests.
They need two negative results before they can be released from the isolation facility.
With this, Estacion assured the public that this should not cause any form of panic.
“Pagkanaog nila, ato naman sila daan gi--contain ug tanan protocols na dili siya makatakod, walay contacts, ato nang gibuhat. Before nato ni sila i-release, kihananglan siya two negative tests. Dili gyud nato kahadlukan kay ang atong positive patient naa na karon sa NOPH ato nang gi-contain (We have performed all protocols since they disembarked from the ship to make sure they won’t spread the virus and avoid personal contacts. They also need two negative results before we can release them from isolation. There is nothing to fear because all the positive patients have been contained inside the NOPH),” Estacion said.
Estacion also noted that asymptomatic individuals have low virulence which means the possibility of spreading the virus is low.
They also do not have cough and colds which also minimizes the chance of transmitting the virus to other people.
Meanwhile, Estacion added there will be no contact tracing to be done since all the individuals who are suspected to have direct contact with the Covid-19 patients have been contained in a facility.
On the other hand, Estacion believes these new cases of Covid-19 will not affect the General Community Quarantine (GCQ) status of the province.
“I think not. Ang atong nabal-an sa national government, kung naa five or more mao nay lockdown in a certain area - sitio or a certain barangay. Pero kana siya kay contained man na nato and dili man na siya local transmission kay gikan man sila sa barko. So I think it will not affect sa atoang pagka-GCQ (I think not. From what we know from the national government, if there is five or more, that is a ground for lockdown in a certain area whether a sitio or a certain barangay. But this one, since we have contained it and this is not a community transmission, they have acquired this aboard the ship, I think it will not affect our GCQ status),” Estacion explained.
Negros Oriental has zero active cases of Covid-19 since April 10, 2020.
The HICs commander also noted that while there are two Covid-19 positive patients admitted at NOPH, official records only reflect one in Negros Oriental since the second individual is already recorded in Cebu.
The IPHO is currently waiting for the results of Covid-19 confirmatory tests conducted on other fishermen. (ral/PIA7-Negros Oriental)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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