BY CARLA P. GOMEZ
A boat captain from San Carlos City in Negros Occidental, who tested positive for COVID-19, died at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City late Monday, Dr. Ernell Tumimbang, Provincial Health Officer, said yesterday.
He is the first COVID-19 patient in Negros Occidental who has died, Tumimbang added.
The San Carlos City government, said on its Facebook page that the 77-year-old succumbed to complications at the Intensive Care Unit at about 5:50 p.m. Monday.
Based on the case investigation conducted by the local contact tracing team, headed by the City Health Office, the patient was rushed to the San Carlos City Hospital on July 20 due to difficulty of breathing and body malaise. He was intubated and stabilized before being referred to the hospital in Bacolod City, the San Carlos government post said.
On Friday, the 77-year-old tested positive for the virus, prompting the San Carlos Incident Management Team to urgently call for rapid contact tracing, it added.
The patient was a ferry boat captain for a shipping line that plies the San Carlos City-Toledo City route, the post said.
All those identified as “close contacts” of the patient who include quarantined co-workers from the ferry boat and others in a government quarantine facility were swabbed for Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests by the Provincial Health Office, the post added.
Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said about 30 health workers at the San Carlos City Hospital were also swabbed for RT-PCR testing.*
