By Glazyl Masculino
BACOLOD CITY – The province of Negros Oriental is closely monitoring 21 persons for suspected infection of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-2019).
Bimbo Miraflor, public information officer of the provincial government announced that the province has four persons under investigation (PUIs) and 13 persons under monitoring (PUMs) in a press briefing on Wednesday.
Dr. Liland Estacion, provincial health officer and COVID-19 incident commander in the province, said that PUIs included one who had travel history to Manila, a couple who just came from Japan, and an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) from Hong Kong.
Estacion said that one of the PUIs had severe respiratory tract infection, and is now confined at an intensive care unit at a private hospital, while three others were placed on home quarantine.
Estacion also said that the 13 PUMs, who had nasal drip and sore throat, were all placed on home quarantine, and were being checked twice-a-day for close monitoring.
The PUMs will be assessed by a medical officer after the 14-day quarantine, she added.
Estacion also said that she recommended to Governor Roel Degamo that another classification be made for persons under observation (PUO) for all the locals coming from Metro Manila, following reported local transmission in some parts there.
She, however, said that the province remains safe, stressing there is still no confirmed case of the deadly disease in Negros Oriental.
She said they already submitted swab samples of four PUIs to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
"We're hoping the results will turn out negative," she added.
Estacion said all district hospitals in the province have been directed to have isolation rooms to cater patients for suspected COVID-19.