Patient 130, the 21-year-old Filipina, the first confirmed Covid-19 case in Davao Region is in a stable condition and recovering well, health officials said Monday.
The Department of Health (DOH) also confirmed reports of the recovery and subsequent discharge of the first Filipino infected with the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Dr. Bryan Dalid, Davao Regional Medical Center (DRMC) chief of hospital, in a virtual press conference, said patient 130 is no longer suffering signs and symptoms for coronavirus disease such as fever, cough, and colds.
Dalid said they took another combined nasopharyngeal (NP) and oropharyngeal (OP) swabs from patient 130 and sent it to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) to check if she is now negative from the coronavirus.
She is currently in isolation at the Emerging Re-emerging Infectious Disease (ERIED) ward while waiting for the results of the second test.
The 21-year-old patient is a resident of Pantukan, Davao de Oro who traveled from the United Kingdom to Manila with a layover in Doha, Qatar, then from Manila to Davao last February 29 via Philippine Airlines.
DRMC has a total of 47 isolation rooms and should there will be a sudden influx of patients under investigation (PUI).
At DRMC 11 patients under investigation (PUI) have already been discharged while 15 PUIs are currently admitted, Dalid said.
At the capital, the DOH identified the recovered patient as Patient 14, bringing the total of recovered patients in the Philippines to three.
The patient 14 is a 46-year-old male who was admitted on March 5, 2020, at Makati Medical Center after manifesting cough and fever on February 25. He was confirmed with coronavirus on March 9.
The DOH said the patient is now asymptomatic and tested negative twice for Covid-19 prior to discharge.
Last Sunday, the DOH announced that patients 1 and 3 have recovered from the deadly virus. Both are foreign nationals.
“While this is a very welcome development, there is no reason for us to be complacent,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said. “In order, to contain the virus, we may also need to extend community quarantine to other areas of the country.”
Duque emphasized the need for the public to cooperate with the government “more than ever, and to serve as our partners in ensuring that the spread of Covid-19 is put to a halt”.
“Let us all act fast and act now,” he added.(with PNA reports)
