DAVAO CITY – Health authorities confirmed two news cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in Davao Region bringing the total number of cases to three.
The two new cases are both 47-year-old, male and female, residents of Davao City and both have travel history to Metro Manila.
The first Covid-19 case is Patient 130, a 21-year-old female from Pantukan, Davao de Oro.
The 47-year-old male or Patient 262 arrived in Davao City on March 6, 2020, and experienced colds on March 13, while the 47-year-old female or Patient 263 also arrived from Manila on March 6 and developed colds and body discomfort and weakness on March 9.
Department of Health in Davao Region confirmed that Patients 262 and 263 are currently asymptomatic and on strict home quarantine.
The City Government of Davao is also calling on Dabawenyos who went to New Matina Davao Gallera on March 6 to 13, 2020, to observe a strict 14-day quarantine.
“If you are experiencing colds, cough, fever, diarrhea or sore throat, you should immediately go to Sta. Ana Health Center or Crossing Bayabas Health Center in Toril,” the statement said.
Mayor Sara Duterte, in a radio interview on Sunday, urged the Dabawenyos not to panic amid the positive cases in the city.
“Let us not focus on how many positive cases that we have. Let us focus on how to stop the spread of the disease,” she added.
She reiterated doctors’ call to stay at home, observe social distancing, wash hands regularly and avoid people coming from places with Covid-19 positive cases.
“Remember, if you have a direct physical contact with a Covid-19 positive and you have flu-like symptoms, better go to the hospital immediately,” Duterte added.
She also reiterated that Dabawenyos should follow doctors’ advice in combatting the disease.
Meanwhile, two of the four patients under investigation (PUI) for Covid-19 who have died while waiting for their results from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) turned out to be negative for the disease, DOH-11 also confirmed.
The following patients all tested negative: the 71-year-old who had a travel history to Laguna and Metro Manila and the 68-year-old Korean businessman who had gone to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Manila, and arrived on March 9 in the country.
The DOH is still waiting for the confirmation results of the other PUIs. (With reports from PNA)