Antique hospital locked down

ILOILO CITY—A hospital in Barbaza town, Antique province was placed on lockdown after a doctor was infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID19).

“Doctors, nurses, hospital staff, and patients are now under strict quarantine,” Antique Governor Rhodora Cadiao told Manila Bulletin Wednesday.

This, after the Western Visayas regional office of the Department of Health (DOH-6) released Tuesday, June 30, the positive test result for the 53year-old female doctor of the Pedro L. Gindap Municipal Hospital.

Cadiao said approximately 70 people have been kept inside the provincial government’s district hospital since Tuesday.

Health authorities are still trying to trace how the doctor might have been infected as she had no travel history outside the province.

The doctor initially showed mild symptoms, such as cough, as early as June 12 and had high-grade fever beginning June 21.

By June 22, she requested to undergo swab testing, and decided to stay at the hospital’s designated COVID-19 isolation room.

“As a doctor, she knew the proper protocol and chose to self-isolate. It is just that the [COVID-19] test result only came out last June 30,” Cadiao added.

On the other hand, the governor cautioned that it could not be ascertained if the doctor was infected by a patient she handled last June 8 for injuries from a vehicular accident. The patient allegedly came from Boracay Island in Aklan province, and did not inform authorities of his travel history.

“But we do not know yet if this is true,” Cadiao clarified.

Meanwhile, the Antique Provincial Health Office also directed patients discharged from the hospital days prior to the release of the doctor’s COVID-19 positive test result to strictly undergo home quarantine.