COTABATO CITY – A 22-year-old police trainee is one of the three new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), health officials said Thursday.
Dr. Elizabeth Samama, Maguindanao health chief said the police trainee is now isolated in Covid-19 Ligtas Center inside the Police Regional Office (PRO)-BARMM in Parang, Maguindanao.
“Currently, the province of Maguindanao has 59 confirmed cases with zero death and no reports of local transmission,” Samama said told reporters here.
Of the 59 cases, 15 are active and confined in various patient care centers.
Samama believes the police trainee could have contracted the disease from two police officers of PRO-BARMM–a police colonel and a corporal–who earlier tested positive for the virus.
“The police colonel and the corporal are also in isolation at the PRO-BARMM Covid-19 facility in Parang town,” she added.
A report from the Ministry of Health-BARMM indicated that the two police officers could have acquired the virus from a tailoring shop in Iligan City while fitting for their new police uniforms and had close contact with the police trainee upon their return to the PRO-BARMM headquarters.
Dr. Safrullah Dipatuan, BARMM health minister, said the region has recorded a total of 544 Covid-19 confirmed cases with 445 recoveries, translating to an 82-percent recovery rate.
Lanao del Sur has the most number of recorded confirmed patients at 240, followed by Basilan and Lamitan with 105, Maguindanao (59), Sulu (16), Tawi-Tawi (4), and stranded individuals who are residents of Basilan-Sulu-Tawi-Tawi (120).
“Across the region, 14 have so far died due to Covid-19,” Dipatuan said.
He said Lanao del Sur registered the highest number of fatalities at nine, followed by Sulu with three, and one each in Tawi-Tawi and Basilan. -PNA
