DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 26 June) – Two locally stranded individuals (LSIs) who recently traveled to Cebu were confirmed positive for Covid-19 upon returning to their respective hometowns in Davao de Oro, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 19.
One of the two male LSIs, a 42-year old construction worker from Barangay Coronobe in Maragusan, is the town’s first confirmed case, Mayor Maricel Colina-Vendiola said.
The provincial government on Friday said the patient, the 18th positive case in the province, was asymptomatic and placed on isolation at the Davao de Oro Provincial Hospital in Maragusan.
Vendiola said the patient left Cebu for Cagayan de Oro City on June 14 onboard MV Air Asia. From Cagayan de Oro he took a van provided by the Davao City government, and from the Davao Overland Transport Terminal traveled to Maragusan onboard a Davao Metro Shuttle bus which had stopovers in Tagum City (Davao del Norte) and Nabunturan town in Davao de Oro.
The mayor said the patient arrived in Maragusan on June 17 and took a “bao-bao” (a tricycle resembling the toktok in India) from the town’s terminal to the isolation facility in Barangay Coronabe.
He underwent a swab test at the provincial hospital on June 25 and the result released in the afternoon of the same day showed he was positive of the virus.
Vendiola assured they have undertaken contact-tracing for those who had interacted with the patient.
The other patient, a resident of Mawab town and the province’s 19th confirmed case, arrived on June 16 and was brought to a dedicated barangay isolation unit.
He was asymptomatic but tested positive based on a swab test at the Provincial Health Office on June 25. The local government unit did not disclose his age and barangay.
Governor Tyron Uy on Thursday evening said that most of the remaining active cases in the province are either LSIs or overseas Filipino workers who had travel histories to Manila and Cebu, which have the most number of Covid-19 infections in the country.
The two additional patients have brought the number of active cases in the province to 16. (Warren Elijah E. Valdez/MindaNews)