MANILA, Philippines — A 71-year-old Filipino being investigated for possible coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) died on Wednesday of cardiovascular ailment, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
He became the first Filipino categorized as person under investigation (PUI) for COVID-19 to die.
At a press conference yesterday, DOH Assistant Secretary for public health services Maria Rosario Vergeire stressed that the man tested negative for COVID-19 and that his death was due to cardiovascular attack.
“He was given supportive measures and diagnostic procedures. After a while he died (last Feb. 12). Just to make it clear, the patient had co-morbidity but was negative for COVID-19,” she said.
The patient had traveled to Taiwan from Jan. 24 to 31 but he was already manifesting cough on Jan. 20. He was admitted and put in quarantine in a hospital in La Union on Feb. 11 and died the following day.
Vergeire said the patient was also di agnos ed wi th pneumoni a and acute myocardial infarction. Doctors also considered thoracic aortic aneurysm.
DOH data show three deaths from among the PUIs. The first was the 29-year-old Chinese man with HIV who died from severe pneumonia. He was also negative for COVID-19.
The second PUI was a 57-year-old Chinese man who died of “underlying restrictive lung disease.”
The Philippines has three confirmed cases of COVID-19. The first was a 38-year-old Chinese woman whose partner, a 44-year-old Chinese man, was also found infected and died of severe pneumonia.
The third case was that of a 60-year-old Chinese woman who recovered from the illness and had already gone back to China.
According to Vergeire, a 25-year-old woman who wa s among 3 0 Filipinos repatriated from China was admitted to the Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital due to fever and ear ache.
She clarified, though, that the patient tested negative for COVID-19 and only developed an “outer ear infection.” The patient will be taken back to the New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac to complete the 14-day quarantine procedure.
Another repatriate, she added, was to be referred yesterday to the Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center “for further evaluation and management after exhibiting anxiety-related symptoms.”
“She will be brought to a hospital where there are psychiatrists who can assist the patient. She was manifesting sleeplessness and restlessness,” Vergeire said.
The rest of the repatriates under quarantine are said to be doing well.
Of the 445 PUIs, a total of 386 have tested negative for the virus. At least 191 are admitted at various health facilities nationwide, with 260 already discharged.
“We are glad that most of our PUIs tested negative for COVID-19. While this is very welcome news, we at the DOH will continue our preparations for the possibility of local transmission,” Vergeire said.
As of yesterday, the DOH-Epidemiology Bureau reported that of the 277 interviewed-contacts of the infected Chinese couple, 218 have completed quarantine while 15 are still in home isolation.
At least 44 of these contacts have developed symptoms and were categorized as PUIs.
But Health Sec. Francisco Duque III does not want the country to be complacent, especially with the reports that the disease is already stabilizing in China. – With Christina Mendez