“Balikbayan” Tests positive for Covid-19 at Subic Freeport Hospital
by Dulce Leonor V. Torralba
SUBIC BAY METROPOLITAN AUTHORITY (SBMA) Chair & Administrator Wilma T. Eisma has renewed calls to strictly observe home quarantine as a Person Under Investigation (PUI) in a hospital in the Freeport tested positive today (March 27) for the dreaded Wuhan Virus (Covid-19).
“We are saddened that a PUI at the Baypointe Hospital and Medical Center in the Subic Bay Freeport has tested positive for Covid-19 infection,” Eisma said, calling “for all of us to strictly observe home quarantine so that we can help in not straining the local health care system any further, and thus, in saving lives.”
SubicBayNews photo by Vic V. Vizcocho, Jr.
Earlier, the Zambales Provincial Health Office (PHO) announced that a seventy-year-old (70) female balikbayan from Washington, U.S.A tested positive for Covid-19.
According to Provincial Health Officer Dr. Noel C. Bueno, the “patient was exposed to a Covid-19 positive case while in the U.S.” before travelling to the Philippines, arriving in Cabangan, Zambales on March 14, 2020 “with symptoms of cough, colds and body malaise.”
She was admitted to the Baypointe Hospital on March 21 due to persistent symptoms, and thereafter tested. The test results confirmed today that she indeed has been infected with Covid-19 virus, bringing the number of Covid-19 positive persons in Zambales to two (2) in as many days
On Thursday, a (73) male US citizen residing in Bgy. San Gregorio, San Antonio, Zambales has tested positive for the Wuhan Virus (Covid 19) , becoming the first confirmed case in the province since the outbreak began late last year in China.
Bueno said the latest patient is “in stable condition” and set for repeat testing on April 5, 2020.
The Provincial Health Office is coordinating with the Local Government Units and the Department of Health on “necessary actions of subsequent outcomes” as extensive contact tracing is ongoing.
Meanwhile, Olongapo City remains Covid-19 positive-free, despite a spike in the number of PUI, 32 today, up from 10 yesterday.
However, Persons Under Monitoring (PUM) dropped from 624 on Thursday, to 471.
A PUI died today but the cause of death is not being attributed to the virus in the absence of confirmation from actual testing. (Dulce Leonor V. Torralba)
