TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Mayor Darwin Estrañero here reported the city’s first coronavirus disease (COVID-19) fatality on Monday, November 9.
Estrañero said the fatality was a 53-year-old male employee of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA)-Kalinga, who passed away at the Cagayan Valley Medical Center (CVMC). He had co-morbidities.
Estrañero said the patient was swabbed on October 28, and his test results came back positive of the virus on October 31.
Considering the patient was symptomatic with cough and sore throat, and also on account of his co-morbidities (diabetes and hypertension), the City Health Office referred him to the Kalinga Provincial Hospital (KPH).
However, after he was diagnosed with pneumonia, the patient was referred by the KPH to the CVMC on November 5, where he passed away early Monday.
He said the patient was a permanent resident of Lamut, Ifugao, and had been staying at the NIA-Kalinga compound while he was assigned.
The Provincial Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit-Kalinga (PESU-Kalinga) is already coordinating with PESU-Ifugao and the CVMC for the transport of the patient’s remains to Ifugao.
Meanwhile, the compound of NIA-Kalinga has undergone disinfection, and will undergo another scheduled disinfection on Friday, November 13.