COVID-19 positive patient rescued after leaving isolation facility
A POSITIVE COVID-19 patient was rescued by authorities after he bolted out of the Rizal Memorial College isolation facility around 9 p.m. on Saturday evening.
The 31-year-old patient, a resident of Barangay 6-A, was recovering at the RMC gym isolation facility along Mt. Apo Street.
Maj. Jack Tilcag, the San Pedro Police Station commander, said the patient waited for his chance after the routine roll call of patients around 7 p.m. of Aug. 1.
Tilcag said they received a report from Dr. Josephine Villafuerte, the city health officer, about the escape. He immediately dispatched police officers to coordinate with barangay officials and health workers, as well as the Public Safety and Security Command Center to recover the patient.
Around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, the Mobile K-31, manned by Cpl. Nestor Aguilan and Patrolman Christian Paylado, spotted the man hiding inside an abandoned truck parked at a vacant lot beside San Pedro Memorial Park.
The private property is located along Circumferential Road, in Barangay 9-A, just a walking distance from the RMC Petro Gazz Arena.
Around 12:15 p.m. on the same day, the Rapid Action Team of the Philippine Red Cross picked up the patient on its ambulance and returned him to the RMC gym.
During the debriefing, the patient told health officers that at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 1, after the roll call, he escaped through the back door of the isolation facility. He jumped over the fence near the elementary classrooms and ran away.
Cases double
in just a month
Davao City’s COVID-19 cases doubled from 435 on July 1 to 873 on July 31, on the first month the city was placed under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ).
On August 1, the start of yet another two weeks of MGCQ, the city recorded 36 more cases, bringing the total to 909 cases out of the Davao region’s 1,310.
The entire city was placed under community quarantine from May 15 to 8:59 p.m. of April 4, enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from 9 p.m. on April 4 to 19, later extended to April 26 and extended by the national Inter-Agency Task Force from May 1 to 15, general community quarantine (GCQ) from May 16 until June 30, and modified GCQ from July 1 to 15, 16 to 31 and extended until August 15.
The Center for Health Development (CHD) of the Department of Health (DOH) Davao region, reported that the region had 1,360 cases, 783 recoveries, and 49 deaths. Out of this number, Davao City recorded 909 cases, 590 recoveries, and 40 deaths.
Out of 598 active cases in the region as of August 1, 279 are in Davao City.
Between July 27 and August 1, the city recorded a total of 127 cases.The CHD recorded a total of 142 positives from among locally stranded individuals and returning overseas Filipinos who arrived in the region from July 19 to August 1. There is no breakdown as yet on how many of the 127 are from Davao City. With a report from MindaNews
