ZAMBOANGA CITY – A native of the city who is serving in the front lines in Manila, had tested positive of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) while a physician listed as a patient under investigation (PUI) here died while awaiting confirmatory test results.
Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said Tuesday that the 22-year old female front-liner was included on the city’s list of positive cases by the Department of Health (DOH) because she hailed from here.
She said that a member of the local medical community, who was a PUI, expired Monday night, April 6, while awaiting results of his confirmatory test for Covid-19 infection from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Manila.
She added that the patient, a pediatrician, was admitted at a private hospital on April 3 after exhibiting severe symptoms such as fever and cough. “On Monday night, he complained of shortness of breath and eventually expired,” she said. The pediatrician was also noted to have had travel history from Manila.
The mayor said the pediatrician arrived in the city from Manila on March 11 and had completed the 14-day quarantine without any symptoms until April 3, when he had to be confined in the hospital.
“The city government joins the family in mourning the loss of the pediatrician. Let us pray for the eternal repose of his soul, as we also pray for all the members of the medical community who are in the front lines as well as all those afflicted with Covid-19, the PUIs and persons under monitoring (PUM),” she said.
She said contact tracing is now being done to determine those who came into close contact with the pediatrician.-PNA
