ILIGAN City -- The city council here unanimously approved on Friday an ordinance that placed the city under a state of calamity due to threats of a spread of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the city.
The move came hours before Patient No. 40, the man from Lanao del Sur who tested positive for Covid-19 last week, died at the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) in Cagayan de Oro and brought the number of the Wuhan disease-related deaths in the country to six.
The 54-year old man, who fell ill in Metro Manila, returned to his hometown in Lanao del Sur and was subsequently admitted in an hospital in Iligan in March 3 before the patient was moved to the NMMC in March 8.
Dr. Edgar Nadal, president of Iligan’s Adventist Medical Center, said the hospital staff who were in direct contact with Patient 40 have been quarantined.
The ordinance was authored by Councilor Lamberto Macapagal, chair of the city council’s committee on health and committee on disaster risk reduction management.
The city council also passed an ordinance reviving curfew for residents – minors and adults -- from 12 midnight to 4 am, said Councilor Ian Uy.
Uy said drinking liquor is also prohibited in Iligan from 11 pm to 6 am.
He said the move would be enforced until the state of public health emergency is lifted.
Mayor Celso Regencia issued a memorandum suspending classes until further notice.
According to one of the doctors who attended to the patient at the Adventist Medical Center here, Patient 40 was brought by relatives from Lanao del Sur to Iligan City to seek medical treatment.
Department of Health (DOH) regional director Adriano Suba-an said the patient was originally from Lanao del Sur but moved to Pasig City in Metro Manila during the Marawi Siege in 2017 for livelihood.
“Health personnel at the AMC who came in close contact with the patient are now in quarantine,” including staff assigned at the emergency room, and those assigned to the patient’s private room, the X-ray room and the 2D echo room, according to an attending doctor in Iligan.
The patient’s relatives who took care of him are also now considered “persons under monitoring,” said the doctor.
The patient had been recommended to be transferred to the NMMC in Cagayan de Oro, 86 kilometers away, after the medical staff suspected him of Covid-19.
During a press conference, Dr. Suba-an noted that the patient had no history of travel abroad. He theorized that the patient was infected in Pasig or anywhere in Metro Manila, then decided to come home to be with his family to help him in seeking medical help.
He said the patient came in through the Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental, which serves the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan and neighboring areas, then admitted at the hospital in Iligan.
Dr. Jose Chan, chief of hospital of the NMMC, said two of Patient 40’s family members who watched over the patient at the NMMC have so far displayed no Covid-19 symptoms, but he did not discount the possibility that they may be infected, too. The family members, he said, were under observation and not allowed to leave the NMMC.
Meanwhile, a joint statement by the city government of Iligan and the Iligan Medical Society said they are “now currently coordinating with respective authorities to do contact tracing. We have also advised the exposed health-care workers to do home quarantine.”
“We are now strengthening hospital policies, preventive measures, and set up triage areas and possible fever clinics,” the joint statement published on the city government’s Facebook page Thursday.
The statement stressed: “We strongly advise the public to stay calm and be informed. Listen only to credible sources (Department of Health, City Health Office, World Health Organization, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), Center for Disease Control and Prevention). Stop the rampant problem of fake news. The virus is a big concern, but misinformation is the bigger problem.”
Mayor Celso Regencia has declared an “indefinite suspension of classes to all levels both private and public schools” starting Friday.
In Lanao del Sur, Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. likewise issued an order Thursday that all classes in public and private schools “are suspended until further notice.”
Jennie Tamano, provincial information office, said the Provincial Task Force on Covid-19 would meet today to determine if the suspension of classes would be extended.
The governor said all scheduled and proposed public events and gatherings that require mass participation are postponed until further notice.
The provincial government acquired four thermal guns and ordered 25 more for all departments as part of the Covid-19 prevention protocol in the provincial capitol.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Ports Authority in Iligan has established five thermal scanners in strategic areas within the port area.
Acting Port Manager and Port Police Commander Menardo Sosobrado, said all outgoing and incoming passengers should pass through the thermal scanners to check their body temperature. Alcohol and sanitizers are also made available. Masks are also handed out to passengers but he supply is limited, he said.
Sosobrado said the PPA has its own isolation building where people under monitoring would be referred to the City Health Office for proper medical response.
In Lanao del Norte, Gov. Imelda Dimaporo said the capitol is closely monitoring all barangays through DOH, Provincial Health Office, Municipal Health Offices, Doctors to the Barrios, private hospitals and medical team.
Dimaporo urged her constituents to be more vigilant and adopt proper hygiene to prevent infections.
She said Kapatagan Provincial Hospital has been identified as the isolation facility. in case of emergency. (Richel V. Umel and Bobby Timonera with reports from Froilan Gallardo, Mindanews)
