By Warren Elijah E. Valdez
DAVAO CITY - The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Task Force of Tagum City announced on Thursday that the first fatality in the city due to the viral disease was a priest who died prior to the release of his test result.
Fr. Arnel Celis died on Monday, April 27, but the result that showed he was COVID-19 positive only came out on April 29.
The task force said they were permitted by the family to reveal the patient’s name to help them in tracing those who had close contact with Celis from April 5 to April 22, when he could have contracted the coronavirus.
"Tungod kay puro secondary sources lang ang nakuha sa among monitoring team sanglit na-stroke ang pasyente, gitugutan kami sa pamilya nga imantala ang iyang pangalan aron makatabang sa contact tracing.
(We were allowed by the family to publish his name to help in contact tracing because most sources are secondary as the patient suffered from stroke)," it said.
Those who had close contact with the priest were advised to undergo 14-day self-isolation, and to inform the Barangay Health Emergency Response Team.
The city government also expressed its gratitude to the service and contribution of Celis.
“There is only one remaining active case of COVI-19 in Tagum City after one from the two Tagumenos who remained positive for the virus had already recovered,” the city government of Tagum said in a statement.
As of 5 p.m. on April 30, DOH Davao Center for Health Development reported five new cases of COVID-19 in Davao City, and one in Davao del Norte, bringing the total number of cases in the region to 135.
Davao City now has a total of 118 cases of COVID-19 and a total of 10 confirmed cases were recorded in Davao del Norte.
DOH Davao also reported four new recoveries in Davao City and one in Davao del Norte, bringing the total number of recoveries in Davao Region to 79.
Davao Occidental remains free from COVID-19 with no recorded confirmed cases; Davao del Sur has two; Davao Oriental has three; and Davao de Oro has two confirmed cases, one of whom has already recovered.