10 LSIs from North Cotabato tested positive for COVID-19, says IATF exec

KIDAPAWAN CITY —North Cotabato has recorded 11 new confirmed Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) cases on September 25 – the highest since March, an official from the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) said.

Cotabato 2nd district Board Member and IATF official Dr. Philbert Malaluan said that of the 11 cases, 10 of them were locally-stranded individuals (LSIs) rescued by the Cotabato provincial government through its program, Task Force Sagip Stranded North Cotabatenos.

Malaluan said that these LSIs came from high-risk areas in Luzon and in the National Capital Region (NCR) who landed few days ago at the Davao City International Airport in Davao City.

He added that as part of the airport’s protocol, all arriving passengers, including the LSIs and returning Overseas Filipino Workers from North Cotabato, were swabbed for the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests.

“Based on the results, 10 of them tested positive of the virus,” Malaluan said.

Of the 11 new Covid-19 cases, one died due to acute respiratory failure, community-acquired pneumonia high-risk with hypoxia, chronic kidney disease secondary to diabetes mellitus and hypertension stage 2, the board member said.

The patient was a 66-year old female from Pigcawayan town who expired at the Cotabato Regional Medical Center on September 23.

Malaluan added the patient was first brought to the Dr. Amado Diaz Provincial Foundation Hospital, a government-owned facility, after she experienced loose bowel movement and vomiting, on September 23.

She, however, suffered cardiac arrest on that day and was immediately rushed to the Cotabato Regional Medical Center (CRMC) in Cotabato City but expired hours later, the IATF official said.

Based on the tracker of the Department of Health Center for Health Development in Soccsksargen Region, of the 11 cases recorded in North Cotabato, five are from Antipas; two from Kidapawan City; two from Pikit; and one each from President Roxas and Pigcawayan who was tagged as Cotabato Patient 120 that expired in September 23.

Malaluan said the room at the Dr. Amado Diaz Hospital where Cotabato Patient 120 was placed during her confinement was temporarily closed due to disinfection process.

Six of the hospital’s health care personnel that the IATF considered ‘high-risk’ because of their direct exposure to Patient 120 were taken swab specimen for the RT-PCR tests and placed under quarantine and strict monitoring of the staff from the Rural Health Unit (RHU) of Midsayap.

Another 12 ‘low-risk’ health care personnel of the hospital were also placed under quarantine, reports said.

Malaluan explained that despite what happened with the health care personnel, the operations of the Dr. Amado Diaz Hospital continue. 

The hospital is among the eight government-owned hospitals operating in North Cotabato, data added. —LBG, GMA News