DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, Philippines — Two patients under investigation (PUIs) for the coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID-19) died this afternoon at the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital (NOPH) in Dumaguete City, March 25, 2020.
The two female PUIs aged 40 and 59 succumbed to Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) while waiting for their swab test results.
Dr. Liland Estacion, COVID-19 Incident Command System (ICS) commander, told CDN Digital in an interview that both PUIs came from the same municipality in the first district of the province.
She refused to divulge the municipality to avoid panic among the residents.
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“Kaning usa stroke patient ni siya gikan siya sa Manila ang 40. Dayon giubo siya mao nang na PUI. Ang usa walay travel history. Gi SARI to siya kay naa man siyay fever dayon giubo. Gikutasan siya mao tong nabutang sa isolation,” Estacion said.
(The 40-year-old PUI is a stroke patient, who came from Manila. She had a cough and so she became a PUI. The other one had no travel history. She was categorized as a SARI because she had a fever and a cough. She also had difficulty breathing and that is the reason she was placed in isolation.)
According to Estacion swab tests were taken from the 2 PUIs, and these were brought to Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) last Sunday (March 22) and this morning (March 25) respectively.
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Both were admitted last week.
Estacion said the cadavers of the patients would be buried before 12 hours.
“We do not know kay wala pa ila swab, so giconsider na jud namo sila as infectious. Basta infectious like rabies lubong dayon before 12 hours. Ibutang namo sa body bag nga sealed then sa longon nga sealed dili na moagi ug balay,” Estacion added.
(We do not know because their test results had not arrived yet, so we considered them as infectious. If they are considered as infectious like having rabies, they will be buried before 12 hours. We will place them in a sealed body bag and their coffines will also be sealed. The body will not be allowed to return or pass in their house or families.)
To recall, a PUI also died yesterday, March 24, 2020 in a private hospital here while waiting for the result of the swab test./dbs