2 of 3 COVID-19 patients from Minglanilla are health workers

Health Worker | STOCK PHOTO

MINGLANILLA, Philippines — Two of the three patients confirmed to have been infected with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from Minglanilla town, Cebu are health workers.

The local government unit of Minglanilla issued a statement on May 1, 2020, confirming that the third COVID-19 case reported in their town is a physician working for a hospital based in Cebu City.

Local officials stated that the 31-year-old doctor has not returned to her residence in Barangay Linao for more than two months already. They added that she was discovered to be a close contact and coworker of a nurse who also happened to be the town’s first COVID-19 patient.

“Sadly, the doctor was found out to be a colleague of the nurse who is our first COVID-19 patient,” the statement said in Cebuano.

In a virtual press conference, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has earlier announced that Minglanilla’s first COVID-19 patient is a nurse from Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), and resides in Barangay Pakigne.

On April 30, the VSMMC issued a statement disclosing that two of the hospital’s health workers were found out to have been infected with the virus during their line of duty.

Minglanilla’s second patient, on the other hand, is a 15-year-old teenager from Barangay Tunghaan. His confirmatory results were released on April 30, 2020.

Health authorities in Minglanilla, a second-class municipality located approximately 20 kilometers southeast of Cebu City, suspected that the minor contracted the virus from a relative who was found out to be shuffling between hospitals in the province’s capital, delivering oxygen tanks.

The relative, and several family members of the second patient, will undergo swab testing as part of the local government’s contact tracing. /dbs