Only area in CICC compound where COVID-positive kid lived is locked down

The area where a five-year-old boy tested positive for COVID-19 lived is being decontaminated and disinfected in this photo from  the Mandaue City Public Information Office Facebook page.

CEBU CITY, Philippines— Barangay Guizo chief Jesus Neri, Sr. said only the area near the house where a Covid-19 positive kid patient lived in the compound of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) in Mandaue City is under lockdown.

Read: Boy, 5, one of Mandaue City’s 6 new COVID cases

Neri told CDN Digital that this was the advice given by the nurse and midwife of the Mandaue City Health Department.

“10 meters gikan sa balay nga gi puy-an atong bata mao ray gi lockdown dili ang tibook CICC,” said Neri.

(It is only within ten meters from the house of the patient is under lockdown, not the entire CICC.)

The CICC compound is packed with families whose houses were burned in separate fire incidents in the city. The compound is filled with shanties built close to one another, but Neri says the other houses are far from where the COVID-positive kid lived.

“Dako man gud nang CICC, naay tulo ka barangay diha, Guizo, Mantuyong ug Tipolo. Lagyo sad gyud ni sila sa na himutangan aning na affected nga balay sa bata,” he added.

(CICC compound is big, there are three barangays living in that compound–Guizo, Mantuyong and Tipolo. But they are far from the house of the patient.)

Neri added that the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (DRRMO) has already decontaminated and disinfected the affected areas as of Monday, May 25, 2020.

Also, all the close contacts of patient MC225, the five-year-old boy who tested positive were quickly pulled out of the area and placed in the barangay’s isolation facility at the nearby Guizo Elementary School.

Patient MC225, according to Neri, was already admitted to Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center for seven days due to some health reasons.

He said that the child was already in the hospital when he was tested. His test results came out on Monday, May 25.

“Naa pa siya sa  Vicente Sotto gi dala na didto kay masakiton daan ba,” said Neri.

(The patient is still admitted in Vicente Sotto, he was brought there because he was really sickly.)

Now, all those who had close contact with patient MC225 are subjected to a swab test to determine if they, too, have been infected by the virus.

Mandaue City now has a total number of 229 cases with eight recoveries and four deaths. /bmjo