14 PUIs in Northern Mindanao test negative for coronavirus disease

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) Region 10 said that 14 Persons Under Investigation (PUI) in Northern Mindanao tested negative for the novel coronavirus.

On Saturday, March 21, Director Adriano Suba-an posted on his Facebook page that 4 PUIs tested negative, followed by another update the next day that 10 other PUIs had tested negative.

Suba-an also said that all 40 Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) medical staff, including 2 infectious specialists “are fine” on the eighth day of their quarantine. (READ: Coronavirus Outbreak | MINDANAO: Provinces, cities, towns on lockdown)

Also on Saturday, the DOH10-Regional Epidemiology Surveillance and Disaster Response Unit’s daily situation briefer showed that there were 172 PUIs in Region 10 since their monitoring began.

The following is the breakdown of PUIs in the region:

• Bukidnon- 27
• Camiguin-   1
• Lanao del Norte- 17
• Misamis Occidental- 61
• Misamis Oriental-    25
• Cagayan de oro City- 17
• Iligan City- 4
• Fell ill in Region 10 but residents of other region-  20

Of the figure, 20 are admitted in different hospitals across the region; 113 are in home quarantine; 26 have been discharged from hospitals, while 10 have completed their quarantine.

Region 10 has 1 confirmed case of COVID-19 died of the disease. Two other PUIs died at the NMMC. One of them passed away before the test results came out.

NMMC Chief of Hospital Dr. Jose Chan confirmed that there are 10 PUIs currently admitted in the hospital.

“Of the 10 PUIs in the NMMC, only one of them is in an intensive care. The rest are doing okay,” Chan said.

Chan also said that the wife of PH40 also tested negative for the virus. PH40 is Mindanao’s first COVID-19 fatality and was a Pasig City resident since 2017.

“She will be discharged today, March 23,” Chan said.

Chan added that PH40’s daughter is also at the NMMC waiting for her result. “They were the most exposed to PH40 as they took care of him,” Chan added.

Across Northern Mindanao, there are 27 PUIs in Bukidnon, 1 in Camiguin, 17 in Lanao del Norte, 61 in Misamis Occidental, and 25 in Misamis Oriental.

There are also 2,307 Persons Under Monitoring (PUMs) with 632 of them completing the required quarantine period – Rappler.com