By Mike Crismundo
BUTUAN CITY – The regional office of the Department of Health-Center for Health and Development (DOH-CHD) based here has recorded on Tuesday afternoon a spike in the number of patients under investigation (PUIs) and persons under monitoring (PUMs) for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Northeastern Mindanao or Caraga region.
The DOH-CHD, however, assured Caraganons and the general public that Caraga region remains free of the dreaded respiratory disease.
The DOH-CHD has already recorded 32 PUIs, based on the latest decision tool.
“Thirteen PUIs are admitted at various government hospitals in the region while the 19 others are under strict home quarantine,” the DOH-CHD latest Caraga Reported COVID-19 stated.
The regional DOH-CHD office is still awaiting results of laboratory tests from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), it said.
The DOH-CHD also reported a spike in their record of PUMs spread out in the five provinces and six cities in Caraga region.
As of Tuesday night, the DOH-CHD recorded a total of 6,485 PUMs spread in the various areas of the region.
But 1,507 are already cleared, done isolation and completed their mandatory 14-day quarantine period and remained healthy.
The remaining 4, 978 are still under home quarantine and “close monitoring and observation”, the DOH-CHD said.
Meanwhile, health officials in Caraga region appealed anew on Wednesday to the general public to “stay home, stay calm, pray and cooperate in all protocols implemented in an effort to stop the spread of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are asking for the full cooperation of every Caraganons and to everyone,” stressed DOH 13 Regional Director Dr. Jose R. Llacuna, Jr.
He said that everyone is encouraged to follow the directives set by their respective local government units (LGUs) and Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for COVID-19 to “protect the health of everyone”.
Llacuna reiterated his call for the public to “stay home” and should they show symptoms of COVID-19, call the local hotlines of DOH-13 first for proper referral and health advice.