6 Luzon health workers test positive for COVID

By Raymund Catindig, Ric Sapnu,Bebot Sison Jr. and Eva Visperas

A 70-year-old female doctor from Bataan and five health workers from Cagayan and Nueva Vizcaya have tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The Bataan inter-agency task force said on Saturday that the doctor became the seventh confirmed COVID-19 case in the province.

The task force said two of the seven cases have recovered and were transferred to a facility designated by the Department of Health, where they would complete 14-day quarantine before undergoing another test.

Reports said the doctor earlier had guests from Manila at her house in Balanga City.

On March 10, she reportedly developed a fever and cold, and experienced sore throat and difficulty in breathing.

The doctor was taken to a hospital in Balanga City on March 15.

Meanwhile, the regional health office in Cagayan and Nueva Vizcaya yesterday confirmed that five health workers have tested positive for COVID-19.

Region 2 health director Leticia Cabrera refused to confirm that among those infected is a doctor at the Cagayan Valley Medical Center.

The doctor reportedly treated a COVID patient, from whom he was believed to have contracted the virus.

Three nurses from the same hospital who took care of the patient tested positive for COVID-19, Cabrera said.

In Nueva Vizcaya, a 27-year-old nurse at the Regional Trauma Hospital and Medical Center in Bayombong tested positive for the disease. 

The nurse reportedly helped take care of a 67-year-old patient who died of COVID.

First cases

The city of Olongapo in Zambales and the town of Asingan in Pangasinan each recorded their first confirmed COVID cases over the weekend.

The Olongapo COVID-19 task force said the 75-year-old man was first included in the list of persons under investigation and has travel history in Manila.

“The patient is in a stable condition and is confined at the Unihealth-Baypointe Hospital and Medical Center located at Subic Bay Freeport zone,” Mayor Rolen Paulino Jr. told The STAR yesterday.

The city has been under extreme enhanced community quarantine since Thursday.

Meanwhile, the patient in Asingan is a 66-year-old woman from Barangay Coldit, who has travelled to London.

The woman arrived on March 11 and was listed as a person under monitoring. She was confined in a hospital in Dagupan City for fever and chest pain.