Department of Health (DOH) confirmed that there is already one case of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Iloilo.
In an emergency press conference on Saturday, DOH-6 Regional Director Marlyn Convocar, together with Mayor Jerry Trenas and Governor Arthur Defenso Jr., announced that a 65-year-old male from Guimbal, Iloilo is positive for COVID-19. He has no history of travel abroad but had contact with relatives who came from Japan.
“We are tracing their relatives who travelled to Japan and anyone the person had contact with during a 14-day period,” said Convocar.
The patient had fever and cough on March 6, and was admitted in Iloilo City hospital last March 13. Swab samples were taken that day and sent to Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) for testing. DOH-6 received the positive result this morning, said Convocar.
As of 12 noon of Saturday, DOH reported 32 new cases, bringing the total to 262 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also confirmed that 5 new patients have recovered from the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to 13.
The DOH added that another COVID-19 patient died today, bringing the total number of fatalities in the county to 19.
