Zamboanga reports 1st Covid-19 death

ZAMBOANGA CITY – A nonagenarian woman here tested positive for the new coronavirus disease, or Covid-19, died on Tuesday. She was the first local to die from Covid-19, said Mayor Beng Climaco.

The 94-year old woman, who lived in Veterans Avenue, died at the Zamboanga City Medical Center, or ZCMC.

“It is with extreme sadness that we inform the public about the passing of ZC-07, the 7th Covid-19 positive case for Zamboanga City. She passed away early dawn today, April 21 while confined at the ZCMC due to respiratory failure secondary to Pneumonia. She is the first Covid-19 fatality in Zamboanga City and Zamboanga Peninsula. We express our deepest condolences to the family, as we pray for the eternal repose of her soul,” Climaco said.

Photo by Enrico Estoque

The Zamboanga City Medical Center said the patient was admitted for 12 days at the Covid Center Internsive Care Unit and died at around 2:48 a.m. “It is with great grief that the Zamboanga City Medical Center informs the public of the passing of our first Covid-19 positive patient. 
She was admitted at our institution for 12 days and was in critical condition at the Covid Center Intensive Care Unit, committed to a mechanical ventilator. ZP-07 is the first COVID-19 mortality in Zamboanga City. We express our deepest condolences to her family and friends, as she ended the last few days of her life surrounded by our healthcare workers, who cared for her ‘til the very end,” it said.
Just recently, a local doctor in his 30s - classified as person under investigation, or PUI, - died suddenly in hospital from what was suspected to be Covid-19, but his test results which came later showed him negative from the virus. PUI is an individual who shows symptoms of cough, colds and fever with a travel or contact history to countries or person that is affected with Covid- 19, and being admitted in the hospital for observation. 

Climaco said Zamboanga City has 8 cases of Covid-19, but two of the patients are residing and working in Manila, although they are local residents. Three patients in Zamboanga have been discharged from the hospital after recovering from the deadly virus. But there are still 245 people with suspected respiratory disease. However, at 33 suspected Covid-19 deaths had been recorded.

The whole city has been in a strict community quarantine since last month after the pandemic - which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year – spread in the Philippines forcing President Rodrigo Duterte to impose the quarantine and placed the entire Luzon, one of three islands in the country most affected by the virus under a total lockdown. Now, the Philippines has over 6,000 Covid-19 cases with hundreds of recorded deaths. 

Climaco is also set to impose Thursday a stricter measure to combat the deadly disease by issuing color-coded quarantine passes to residents in an effort to limit the movement of people and prevent the spread of the virus. She said each family will get one color-coded pass and this will enable the holder to go out and buy their essential needs three times a week. 

The first phase of the implementation of color-coded is as follows: Quarantine Pass A: holders of this pass are allowed to leave their residence on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; Quarantine Pass B: allowed to leave their residences on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

And if the situation so demands, Climaco will implement the second phase following the color-coding scheme where quarantine pass holders are allowed to leave twice a week only depending on their assigned color.

Essential workers shall also be issued a special pass, but in the meantime, they can present their company ID or employer's certificate to police checkpoints. And frontliners such as medical workers, social workers and the like, government officials and employees performing governmental functions or forming part of the skeletal workforce of the various agencies and other emergency responders shall only be required their ID at the checkpoints. While those with illnesses requiring constant medical attention and procedures such as dialysis, chemotherapy and the like are exempted.

And on Sundays, no quarantine pass shall be honored, except for medical emergencies to allow the local government to disinfect and clean public areas. Climaco also approved an emergency ordinance protecting Covid-19 patients, and those suspected or probably infected with the virus and members of their family, including medical workers and other frontliners from discrimination. The penalties for the above violations include imprisonment from 1 day to one year and or fine ranging from P500 to P5000. (Zamboanga Post)

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