The patient who tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) and admitted to a private hospital facility in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental is under monitoring in the intensive care unit (ICU).
This is the latest update given to members of the media on Thursday afternoon at a press conference at the Department of Health Region 7 (DOH-7) office.
Dr. Jaime Bernadas, regional director of the DOH-7, said this patient was already immunocompromised since he underwent a liver transplant.
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Right now, the agency is doing contact tracing on the possible individuals that came in close contact with the patient who is identified as an incumbent town councilor of Tayasan.
He attended the gathering of the Philippine Councilors League (PCL) in Manila.
He went to Greenhills on February 28. He went home last March 1 and started showing symptoms on March 6.
According to Dr. Shelbay Blanco of the Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (RESU) in Central Visayas, some Cebu City councilors are already included in their list of persons under monitoring (PUM).
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Currently, there are already 125 PUMs for Central Visayas.
DOH-7 has expanded its definition of persons under investigation (PUIs) following the suggestion of the Philippine Society of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, which now covers those who have been to areas in the Philippines where there are reported positive Covid-19 cases.
As of March 12, there are currently 53 admitted PUIs in the region including the councilor who tested positive.
