BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran called for heightened vigilance and community participation as the island registered its first local mortality caused by the COVID19 disease and as the number of persons under investigation (PUIs) rose to six this weekend.
“Vigilance and knowing the right information, these are important to keeping us safe; of course we should move as part of our community,” Familiaran told DNX.
This was the call of Familiaran after a councilor of Tayasan town died of complications inside a private hospital in Dumaguete City today, days after he was confined for showing flu-like symptoms.
Local station Yes The Best FM, the first to break the news in Dumaguete, quoted Oriental Negros Gov. Roel Degamo as saying that the patient, who health authorities tagged as PH39, died 11:09am today, 15 March 2020.
Other local news sources cited the immediate cause of death as multiple organ failure.
As Familiaran made the call, government doctor Grace Tan, spokesperson of the local COVID task force, confirmed to DNX the increase in the number of persons under investigation in the city to six.
This count does not include any passenger from a 2Go Travel ship, the last trip out of Manila, to dock at the private port in the city center.
More than 800 passengers disembarked in Bacolod Saturday afternoon after President Duterte placed the national capital under community quarantine to halt the spread of the virus.
These PUIs are now confined in various hospitals in the city.
