By Tara Yap
ILOILO CITY – The Department of Health (DOH) reported the first confirmed case of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Iloilo Saturday, March 21.
DOH-6 Regional Director Marlyn Convocar said the patient was a 65-year-old man from the town of Guimbal in Iloilo province, who has been admitted in a hospital here.
Convocar noted the first COVID-19 case in Iloilo was the second case in the Western Visayas region. The first positive case was reported in Bacolod City Friday night.
“The patient had no travel history, but was exposed to relatives who had recently travelled to Japan,” said Convocar.
“We are tracing their relatives who travelled to Japan and anyone the person had contact with during a 14-day period,” said Convocar in a Saturday afternoon press conference with Mayor Jerry Treñas of Iloilo City and Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. of Iloilo province.
The patient, who’s currently in critical condition, initially developed symptoms as early as March 6 when he had cough and fever. He was only admitted to the hospital in Iloilo City last March 13 and a sample for COVID-19 testing was taken the same day.
“There’s no delay in reporting this to the public. We only received the test result this morning,” clarified Convocar she explained that the COVID-19 testing was still sent to DOH’s Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Metro Manila.
“We also received the test result last night for the positive case in Bacolod City,” Convocar added.
Meanwhile, both Treñas and Defensor reiterated the need for the people of the city and province to abide by the enhanced quarantine and stay home.