Bontoc isolates Covid-19 patient

ACTING on a tip, a four- year- old patient with congenital heart disease who tested positive of Covid- 19

brought to Bontoc, Mt. Province was immediately isolated.

The municipal government said the fouryear old patient was brought home to barangay Talubin on Dec. 7 and now admitted at the Bontoc General Hospital while the family members are in quarantine.

Bontoc Mayor Franklin Odsey placed Tengaw in barangay Talubin on lockdown restricting the entry and exit in the barangay except for the contact tracing and monitoring team and those with medical emergencies.

Mountain Province Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office ( DRRMO) disclosed the four- yearold patient with congenital heart disease was tested positive of Covid-19 tagged as patient Mankayan Case 263 went missing in an isolation facility in Lepanto while waiting to be transported to Benguet General Hospital.

“Per investigation, the child was allegedly smuggled out from Lepanto and was brought home to Talubin on Dec. 7. The mother allegedly brought her two children home surreptitiously; hence, the search for their whereabouts. The family rode in commuter vans plying Mankayan - Abatan, Buguias, Abatan, Buguias - Bontoc and a commuter van plying Bontoc to Banaue,” Mt. Province PDRRMO said in a Facebook post.

The child was swabbed December 3 and the RT-PCR test result released on Dec. 6 revealed a positive result. The patient was then isolated in Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company hospital said Mankayan Mayor Frenzel Ayong.

On Wednesday, Ayong said the parent of the child wanted the four-year-old to be out of the Lepanto Hospital and be transferred because of the child’s congenital heart disease.

Mt. Province PDRRMO meanwhile appealed to all the unidentified passengers who have been in the same vehicle with the mother and her two children to immediately isolate themselves and to contact their nearest health facilities.

The PDRRMO also enjoined the drivers of the concerned commuter vans to immediately report to their respective municipal health offices.