Bacolod City reports first coronavirus death

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – A 62-year-old woman, classified as a patient under investigation (PUI), died on Tuesday, March 31 in Bacolod City, a day before her confirmatory test for COVID-19 was released, the city government said.

The patient tested positive for COVID-19, said Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, head of the Bacolod Inter-agency Task Force against Covid-19. COVID-19 is the disease brought by the coronavirus.

Bacolod Adventist Medical Center, in a statement, said that the patient had traveled to Manila and also had contact with her son who is a COVID-19 patient, as well. Her son remains confined at the same hospital.

Doctors said that the patient had cardiac arrhythmias, diabetes, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and community-acquired pneumonia.

Local transmission

Dr. Marlyn Convocar, director of the Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas based in Iloilo City, said that the increasing number of cases in some areas in the region indicates local transmission in areas such as the municipalities of Guimbal and Lambunao in Iloilo province, and Bacolod City.

Areas with local transmission are advised to strengthen the implementation of community quarantine, Convocar said.

Western Visayas has 25 COVID-19 cases as of April 1:

• Iloilo- 7
• Bacolod- 6
• Aklan- 5
• Iloilo City – 3
• Capiz- 3
• Negros Occidental- 1

Antique and Guimaras are the remaining provinces in the region with no reported COVID-19 cases yet. – Rappler.com