DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 11 May) – Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte confirmed on Monday that a female patient who tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) escaped last Saturday from a government-run quarantine facility.
In a live interview over Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR) 87.5, Duterte said that health authorities have been searching for the missing female patient.
But the authorities failed to find her at her residence in Barangay 23-C in this city, the mayor said.
“Some do not want to be admitted. They want to go home, but that patient who is missing after she escaped was not in her residence. Until now, we are still searching for her,” she said.
While the mayor did not specify which government facility the patient was confined, Duterte said that she was admitted at a center where COVID-19 patients with “mild symptoms” have been taken in.
As of Monday, Duterte said the city has a total of 121 COVID-19 cases.
Of the total, 77 are confined at the Southern Philippines Medical Center, nine at Center A, two at Center B, one at Center C and 32 at Center D.
She said that 81 COVID-19 patients have recovered while 22 have died.
Duterte said the local government has already beefed up security in COVID-19 centers set up in the city to ensure that no one would attempt to escape from these isolation facilities.
“The security has been in place. We just added more in our facilities because in that area she was not the only one, there were other patients who attempted to escape before,” she said.