DAVAO CITY - The Davao Oriental Provincial Task Force on COVID-19 confirmed on Friday its first case of local transmission of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) after a 26-year-old woman from Cateel town tested positive for the disease.
In a statement on Friday, the provincial government of Davao Oriental said that, based on the official report from the Provincial Epidemiologic Surveillance Unit, the woman was among the close contacts of a health worker, who has tested positive for COVID-19.
It added that the woman has no travel history.
"Her only source of exposure is a health worker who also tested positive following her exposure to one of the Locally Stranded Individuals (LSI) isolated at the Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facility (TTMF) of the Municipality of Cateel," it said.
"Currently, all close contacts of the health worker, including the new positive case, have all been isolated either at home or at the isolation facility. Contact tracing for the close contact of the new positive case is currently ongoing," it added.
The municipality of Cateel has three other active cases, but they have already tested negative on their repeat swab test.
"They are expected to continue their 14-day quarantine at the isolation facility," it said.
As of 5 p.m. on Friday, the Department of Health Davao Center for Health Development (DOH-DCHD) reported 22 new cases of COVID-19 in the region, bringing the total number of cases to 1,470.
According to the DOH, 485 of these were still active cases. The region has also recorded a total of 55 deaths and 930 recoveries.