CEBU CITY, Philippines — Minglanilla town in southern Cebu on Saturday, May 9, 2020, recorded its fourth confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) case, and the first mortality due to the infection.
The local government of Minglanilla announced on Facebook that their fourth COVID-19 patient already succumbed to the disease on Saturday dawn, and was later found out to have been infected with the virus.
The patient, they said, is a 34-year-old female resident from Sitio Lipata, Barangay Linao, and has been diagnosed with cancer on its fourth stage.
As a result, Minglanilla Mayor Elanito Peña was quoted on placing two privately owned compounds in Sitio Lipata, Barangay Linao under lockdown.
Contact tracing was also implemented, authorities said, adding that the town’s health experts believed the patient could have gotten the virus from hospitals where she was recently admitted.
“The patient is already immunocompromised considering that she has Stage 4 cancer,” the statement read in Cebuano.
Based on initial findings from Minglanilla’s contact tracing team, the patient was admitted in Talisay District Hospital on May 7, 2020 after suffering from stomach pain. She was discharged the next day morning, May 8.
“However, she was rushed to a private hospital in an attempt to save her life. Unfortunately, she later passed away on the dawn of May 9, 2020,” they said.
The patient’s close contacts were her two children age 11 years old and 19 years old. Her husband, according to the post, is working overseas.
Minglanilla is a second-class municipality located approximately 20 kilometers south of Cebu City. /dbs