KORONADAL CITY – Two more persons under investigation (PUI) for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) died in two separate cities in the Soccsksargen region on Thursday while awaiting test results.

Eight PUIs have so far perished in Mindanao before they could be confirmed for COVID-19 virus.

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Arjohn Gangoso, health education and promotions officer of the Department of Health (DOH), reported on Thursday the death of an 87-year-old man in Tacurong City on March 14.

The man had no history of travel outside Sultan Kudarat but was listed as PUI after he experienced fever, cough and breathing difficulty when admitted to a hospital on March 13.

He died of acute respiratory failure secondary to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease the following day.

Dr. Aristides Tan, DOH-12 regional director, said swabs from the man had been sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) for testing but the results had not arrived yet until his death.

Another patient suspected for COVID-19 also died of Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) in Koronadal City on March 18, while waiting for the test results to arrive, according to the South Cotabato Provincial Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (Pesu).

All PUIs recorded by DOH in South Cotabato have recent travels to Manila and Luzon where there were confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths.

An 81-year old man in Tacurong was the first suspected COVID-19 patient who died in Region 12.

DOH-12 personnel and Sultan Kudarat health workers immediately started tracking down the individuals people he earlier had contact with and monitored his family members for flu-like symptoms.

Region 12 or Soccsksargen region has 21 PUIs confined in various hospitals, including one in Cotabato City which currently housed the first confirmed COVID-19 patient in the region.

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Identified only as Patient 145 or PH145, the patient had a recent travel to Malaysia, where he joined an Islamic event linked to a spike of COVID-19 cases in that country.

The patient died at Amai Pakpak Medical Center in Marawi City hours before his test results arrived from RITM confirming him positive for the virus.

He was an Islamic missionary who attended the same Islamic event in Malaysia as PH145.

GSG

For more news about the novel coronavirus click here.

What you need to know about Coronavirus.

For more information on COVID-19, call the DOH Hotline: (02) 86517800 local 1149/1150.

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