A patient under investigation (PUI) for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) died at a hospital in Iloilo City.
This was revealed by Mayor Jerry Treñas during his meeting with mall and supermarket managers in the city on Wednesday, March 18.
Treñas said the patient, who came from a town in the province of Iloilo, manifested symptoms of COVID-19.
There is no test result yet on the specimen taken from the patient before the latter died.
The mayor did not give further details about the patient.
The City Health Office (CHO), as of March 18, recorded 27 suspected CVID-19 cases in metropolis.
One of these PUIs who have pending tests results from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Manila is in “critical condition,” according to Treñas.
Meanwhile, the mayor is “seriously considering” placing the entire city under “lockdown.”
“The number of PUMs (persons under monitoring) and PUIs are increasing very fast. We have no test kits and the non-availability of air transportation hinders our ability to send specimens to RITM,” Treñas said in a statement.
“A lockdown will only give us an opportunity to break the chain of transmission in case there is one,” he added.IMT
