1st COVID-19 case in Mandaue ‘recovering’ — DOH-7 chief

Dr. Jaime Bernadas says the first confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) case in Mandaue City is a male patient, who had a history of travelling to Mindanao and Metro Manila. | CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines. — The first confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) patient in Mandaue City is already “recovering and is about to be discharged.”

The patient had already been in the hospital for at least 12 days now, said Dr. Jaime Bernadas, Department of Health Central Visayas (DOH-7) regional director, in an interview on Wednesday, March 18, 2020.

“Indeed, the bad news is that we already have our first positive case admitted in one of our hospitals, but the good news is the patient is already recovering,” Bernadas said.

“He is about to be discharged, and hopefully, he can share his experience with us,” the health official said.

Bernadas described the patient as a Filipino male senior citizen, who had no recent travel history abroad.

He said the patient, however, recently visited cities in Mindanao and Metro Manila.

The patient, who was confined in the hospital in Mandaue City since March 6, has since been treated as a patient under investigation (PUI).

Bernadas said swab samples were taken from the patient sometime in March 11 to 12 .

Bernadas, however, said he had yet to verify the records of the patient and how he was admitted.

Despite that it took over a week before the test result of the patient came out from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), Bernadas said the patient was placed in isolation and contact tracing had already been conducted.

Bernadas begged off from disclosing further information regarding the patient because he had yet to inform him and the hospital where he was admitted.

Meanwhile, Bernadas did not hide his disappointment that the information on the informed case had been disclosed through the DOH website first before the Central Office even informed him.

“I feel bad because it came out earlier in social media. It came out sa tracker ng DOH as a case from Region 7 na nag-positive without first informing me,” Bernadas said.

(I feel bad because it came out earlier in social media. It came out in the tracker of DOH as a case from Region 7, who was positive of COVID-19 without first informing me.)

Bernadas, in an earlier press conference, assured the public that the regional health office would be disclosing information and updates on the COVID-19 situation here “as it comes.”

DOH-7, earlier this Wednesday, disclosed that 14 PUIs had already been cleared of the virus./dbs