Coronavirus illustration | STOCK PHOTO
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The 27 close contacts of the 17-year-old coronavirus disease patient from Carcar City, southern Cebu, have all tested negative of the infection.
Carcar City Vice Mayor Nicepuro Apura made this announcement in a presser live-streamed through the Office of the Presidential Assistant to the Visayas (OPAV) Facebook page on Thursday, May 21, 2020.
“We did the contact tracing. Ang inahan, amahan, igsuon, mga silingan apil ang driver sa ambulance. Ang 27 kabuok gipa-swab test unya tanan negative,” Apura said.
(We did the contact tracing. The mother, father, sibling, neighbors, including the driver of the ambulance — all of them, 27 close contacts of the patient — we had them swabbed and they turned out negative of the virus.)
The first COVID-19 case of the city of Carcar, located some 39 kilometers south of Cebu City, was a 17-year-old boy who also suffered from kidney disease. The case was reported on April 27.
The boy was admitted at the hospital on April 23 and died on April 25 with his cause of death identified as: “pulmonary congestion secondary to acute renal failure leading to nephrotic syndrome, COVID positive.”
READ: 17-year-old kidney patient from Carcar City dies of COVID-19
READ: COVID-19 claims Carcar City boy: Question remains on where he got the virus
Apura said they remained baffled as to where the child contracted the infection when the boy, prior to his admission in Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), was already bed-ridden for a long time because of his renal disease.
“Tulo na to ka tuig nga nag-stay at home kay naglubog man to siya. Mao nang naglibog mi nganong gikan to sya sa Carcar,” Apura added.
(He had been staying at home for three years because he had been bedridden. That is why we are puzzled at how he got the virus when he came from Carcar.)
The city government, on its Facebook page, earlier claimed that the boy might have contracted the disease in VSMMC, which is the largest medical facility catering COVID-19 cases.
However, the hospital administration dismissed the speculation that he was infected at the facility.
Dr. Gerardo Aquino, VSMMC chief, assured that they had been implementing infection control protocols in the hospital considering that the VSMMC were catering to COVID-19 patients./dbs