KORONADAL CITY -- Local health authorities here have launched contact-tracing on at least 16 people, who were exposed to a public school teacher who succumbed to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) last October 9.
City Health Officer Edito Vego said all close contacts of the COVID-19 patient have been isolated while being monitored closely under quarantine if they will show symptoms of possible infection of the virus.
He said the 23-year-old public school teacher from Barangay Saravia succumbed to pulmonary disease while being confined at a local private hospital here.
She was subjected to swab test before she died.
It was after she passed away that the result came back, showing that she was positive for the coronavirus.
However, the patient’s relatives dismissed the findings that the patient was positive for COVID-19.
They claimed that patient was asymptomatic and was suffering from gastric ulcer when she was taken to the hospital.
The relatives sought the help of the city government and Department of Education (DepEd) for an autopsy to determine if the victim really died from COVID-19.
The family claimed that the patient’s remains were immediately buried without holding a wake or vigil upon the instruction of local health officials