BACOLOD CITY - Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, head of the Bacolod Inter-agency Task Force against COVID-19, confirmed on Wednesday the first casualty of COVID-19 here.
The casualty is a 62-year-old female who died on March 31 while being treated at Bacolod Adventist Medical Center (BAMC), a day before her swab test results indicating that she tested positive for COVID-19 came out.
She was earlier tagged as person under investigation (PUI) with a travel history to Manila and an exposure to a confirmed COVID-19 positive patient.
BAMC President Dr. Galileo Pabalinas also shared the sad news in an official statement dated April 1 and posted on their official Facebook page.
“As the second day of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Negros Occidental unfolded on March 31, a sad plight enveloped the hospital with the passing away of the admitted PUI,” he wrote.
Pabalinas said the patient’s final diagnosis included cardiac arrythmia, diabetes, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and community-acquired pneumonia.
The BAMC management confirmed she is the mother of another COVID-19-positive patient who is currently admitted at the hospital.
The hospital urged the public to practice all safety measures even inside their households and with their families.
Meanwhile, Dr. Grace Tan, spokesperson of the task force, said two other PUIs also died in the hospital.
Tan said the patients were a 60-year-old male who died two weeks ago, and a 42-year-old male driver from Cebu who died on March 29.
Tan said the 60-year-old patient tested negative for COVID-19, while they are still waiting for the swab test results of the other casualty.
Local transmission
Following the first reported death here, the Department of Health-Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-WV-CHD) confirmed that there is an indication of local transmission in Bacolod.
In a press release, DOH-WV-CHD said local transmission, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), indicates that the source of infection is within the reporting location. Areas with local transmission are advised to strengthen the implementation of community quarantine.
The regional health office reported that Bacolod has six COVID-19 cases, including the first casualty.