Cagayan Valley now COVID-free

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan, Philippines — Cagayan Valley is now free of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) after its remaining patient has recovered.

The regional epidemiology surveillance unit of the Department of Health (DOH) said the patient, a medical technologist from Cauayan City who was confined at the Southern Isabela Medical Center in Santiago City, tested negative for the virus for the second time yesterday. 

The DOH said the patient was exposed to a doctor who recovered last week.

Another infected health worker in San Agustin, Isabela recovered on Monday.

Cagayan Valley reported a total of 27 cases, with one death.

Isabela recorded seven cases; Cagayan, 14, and Nueva Vizcaya, five.

No new case was reported in the region in the past 15 days.

Batanes and Quirino have not recorded any case.

Ilocos Sur’s two patients and one in Ilocos Norte recovered last week. No new case had since been reported.

In Bulacan, provincial health officer Jocelyn Gomez said Donya Remedios Trinidad, Plaridel and Hagonoy towns remain free of COVID-19.

The number of those infected in Bulacan hit 103 with two new cases reported on Monday. Twenty-four patients died while five have recovered.

1st fatality in Zamboanga

Meanwhile, Zamboanga peninsula recorded its first COVID-19 fatality. The patient, a 94-year-old woman, died while being treated at the Zamboanga City Medical Center yesterday.

“She is the first confirmed COVID-19 fatality in Zamboanga City and Zamboanga peninsula,” city health officer Dulce Amor Miravite said.

Joshua Brillantes, DOH-Zamboanga peninsula assistant director, said 12 cases were recorded in the region.

Four were recorded in Zamboanga del Sur and six in Zamboanga City. Two other residents were confined in hospitals in Manila.

In Pangasinan, four patients – a 73-year-old and a 58-year-old women from Lingayen; a 53-year-old woman from Urdaneta City, and a 71-year-old man from Bayambang – have been cleared of the virus.

At least 21 patients have recovered in Pangasinan. Six others remain confined in hospitals while nine died.

Nurse infected

At the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC), another nurse tested positive for COVID-19.

The 22-year-old patient, a resident of La Trinidad, Benguet, is the fourth infected health worker at the BGHMC.

A doctor and another health worker in Baguio City have earlier recovered from COVID-19. – With Victor Martin, Artemio Dumlao, Michelle Zoleta, Roel Pareño, Miriam Desacada, Ramon Efren Lazaro, Cesar Ramirez