Antique records first coronavirus case

ANTIQUE, Philippines – The provincial government of Antique on Tuesday, April 7 confirmed its first coronavirus case.

In a press statement, Governor Rhodora Cadiao said that the patient is a 74-year-old man from Parañaque City who arrived in Barangay Semirara, Semirara Island in Caluya on March 9 on board a private plane.

Cadiao said that Semirara Island is 159 kilometers from mainland Antique.

Cadiao’s statement is posted on the Antique provincial health office Facebook page to update the public:

On March 19, the patient had difficulty breathing and fever, prompting him to seek consultation at the Semirara Mining Power Consultation Hospital. His specimen was taken on April 2.

The Department of Health Western Visayas Center for Health Development said in its own update that the patient was “diabetic and asthmatic”.

Cadiao said that her office received the official result from the Western Visayas Medical Center Department of Pathology, sub national laboratory confirming that the patient is positive for coronavirus.

The governor said that the patient is on “strict home quarantine and in stable condition” in Semirara Island.

She said that contact tracing is now being done by the Caluya municipal government in Barangay Semirara.

In an update on Tuesday, the DOH- Western Visayas said that aside from the Antique patient, a 25-year-old woman from Barotac Nuevo in Iloilo also tested positive for coronavirus on Monday, April 6. She is confined in a hospital and is in stable condition.

With the 2 new coronavirus cases, Western Visayas has 36 COVID-19 patients as of Monday: 

• Aklan- 6
• Antique- 1
• Capiz- 3
• Iloilo province- 10
• Iloilo City- 3
• Negros Occidental- 1
• Bacolod City- 6

Of the 36 patients, 6 have died. 

Guimaras is the remaining province in Western Visayas with no reported COVID-19 cases yet.

A total of 391 patients under investigation (PUIs) in the region have tested negative for coronavirus; 162 PUIs remain in hospitals; and 163 have been discharged.

A total of 44,238 persons under monitoring (PUMs) have completed their 14-day quarantine of the 54,374 reported PUMs. 

The DOH said that the number of coronavirus cases in the Philippines climbed up to 3,764 as of Tuesday, with 104 new cases reported. The death toll has reached 177 while 84 patients have recovered. – Rappler.com