By Tara Yap ILOILO CITY – A man at a coal mining reservation at Semirara Island became the first positive case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Antique province. In an April 7 statement, the office of Antique Governor Rhodora Cadiao identified the first COVID-19 positive case as a 74-year-old man. A resident of Parañaque City, the man flew to Semirara Island in Caluya town via a private airplane last March 9. According to the provincial government’s statement, the man sought consultation at Semirara’s hospital last March 19 when he started having fever and had difficulty breathing. It was last April 2 when specimen was collected from the man and was sent to the COVID-19 testing center at Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) in Iloilo City. The man, who is still in Semirara Island, is now under home quarantine and is on the road to recovery. Meanwhile, the local government of Caluya and the Antique provincial government are closely coordinating with village officials to conduct contact tracing. Prior to this case, Antique was one of the two provinces in Western Visayas region that did not have a COVID-19 case.