BAGUIO CITY March 16 – Regional health authorities confirmed that the persons under investigation (PUIs) who are awaiting their confirmatory test results increased from eight to eleven following the continuous influx of individuals submitting themselves for medical checkup in the different health facilities regionwide.
DOH-CAR regional director Dr. Amelita M. Pangilinan disclosed from the 42 PUIs, the same rose to 48 over the weekend where 37 persons were already discharged from the different health facilities while 11 individuals are still confined.
Further, 34 samples of the PUIs already tested negative based on confirmatory test results with the Manila-based Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) while the confirmatory test results of the remaining 14 persons are still being awaited.
The DOH-CAR official added that of the 48 PUIs, 26 came from Baguio City, 9 are from Abra, 7 are from Benguet, 4 are from Mountain Province and 1 each came from Apayao and Kalinga while there were no PUIs that came from Ifugao.
While the Cordillera was able to register its first COVID confirmed case from Abra over the weekend, she explained that the 39-year old seaman from Katakdegan Nuevo, Manabo, Abra is now doing well while in home quarantine in his residence, except for his colds that is currently bothering him.
She said that some initial 50 COVI test kits from the RITM will be arriving in the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) to help in speeding up the release of the confirmatory test results of the PUIs that will seek medical attention from the health facilities.
Earlier, the health department designated the BGHMC as one of the five tertiary hospitals in the country that will serve as a national testing center for COVID after its personnel passed the rigid training for the said purpose and its facilities passed the requirements of the World health Organization (WHO).
According to her, once the COVID test kits will arrive in the city, the release of the confirmatory test results of the PUIs can be done in 13 hours to help in ascertaining whether or not the PUIs are positive of the deadly virus.
Pangilinan urged the public to remain calm in the light of the increasing number of COVID cases in the country considering that the situation still remains under the control of the government where people should stay in their residences when they have no important things to do outside and practice basic hygiene and sanitation etiquette as well as keep their immune system strong by eating the right kind of food.
She reiterated to the public to always practice coughing and sneezing etiquette, obtain reliable information from credible sources, wash hands regularly, eat nutritious food, refraim from going to crowded places, only use masks when necessary and no to serving raw and uncooked meat, especially from the wilds.
By Dexter A. See
