By Shirley Matias Pizarro
BALANGA, Bataan – The number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in this province continued to rise, even as it posted its first fatality – a 55-year-old government employee.
According to the provincial health office, the fatality was an official of the Balanga city government who expired at the Jose B. Lingad Memorial Hospital in Pampanga last Friday. The result of tests conducted on him, showing that he was COVID-19 positive, arrived her Sunday.
Meanwhile, there were three other new COVID-cases in this city, including a 70-year-old woman, who was suspected to have contracted the virus from her visitors from Manila; another Balanga city government employee, currently confined at the Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC), who had direct contact with the patient who died; and a 62-year old woman confined at the Baypointe Hospital in Subic who recently travelled to Quezon City.
Patients PH64 M32 from Orani town, and PH303 M24 from Hermosa, dorm mates in Manila where they work, were the ones who were reported to have recovered from the viral disease. They are currently being monitored while undergoing post-admission quarantine. They will be tested again at the end of the quarantine period before they can be pronounced cleared of COVID-19 completely.
Updates about the other four cases of COVID-19 positive patients in Bataan are also looking favorable.
It was reported that the patients no longer show any symptoms of the disease. They are PH529 M55 from Orion, the 53-year-old male from Abucay town who was working in Rizal province; the 58-year old male from Samal town who came from Manila; and the 44-year old male from Mariveles town who did not have any travel history.
As of the latest count, Bataan now has 10,648 persons under monitoring (PUMs), 715 mild patients under investigation (PUIs), and 77 moderate to severe PUIs.