Unlike the three previous Covid-19 positives in the South Cotabato, contact tracing on the 4th Covid-19 positive case is quite difficult, the Integrated Provincial Health Office disclosed.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Rogelio Aturdido Jr. in a press briefing held earlier this week that health officials need to start contact-tracing 14 days before he sought medical attention on May 6, 2020, the moment he felt symptoms of the virus.
Aturdido said, the patient who is a 25-year –old male from Polomolok town has no travel history except when he went to see a health official for a consultation at General Santos City.
Prior to his confinement at the Polomolok Municipal Hospital on May 9, 2020, he already has a pre-existing condition.
He was then transferred to South Cotabato Provincial Hospital on May 10, 2020, but was readily transferred at the isolation facility of Soccsksargen General Hospital which is referred to as COVID-Hospital in Surallah.
On May 17, he was discharged from the Covid-19 Center and went home but the result of his swab test came out on the same day and he was tested positive. The patient was readily put at the municipal isolation facility.
“Contact tracing is quite tedious and longer this time,” Aturdido said,
With the absence of a contact-tracing app being pushed by the provincial government, there is still a long way to go before the process can be done.
The IPHO is working closely with the family and local health officials of Polomolok to establish close contact with the patients prior to his confinement.
Aturdido, however, stressed amid his condition, this patient is already considered recovered since he sought medical attention and is now on stable condition.
The local government unit of Polomolok readily ordered the Pre-emptive Lockdown of the barangay where the patient resides for 2-3 days to conduct a thorough contact tracing efforts.
Meanwhile, South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. said he will issue an executive order to be presented to the RIATF for concurrence placing Polomolok town under a 7-day lockdown effective Wednesday, May 20.
Earlier, the governor announced that if there will one more positive COVID-19 case in the province, he plans to place the whole South Cotabato under the Enhanced Community Quarantine.
This is due to a lack of testing laboratory, mass testing, and contact tracing which is important in the fight against the coronavirus disease.
