COVID-19 UPDATE: No more PUMs in 14 Capiz towns

By Felipe V. Celino

ROXAS CITY, Capiz— Fourteen of the 16 towns in Capiz have no more Persons Under Monitoring (PUM) for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Latest update from the Capiz Provincial Health Office (PHO) revealed that there are no PUMs in the towns of Cuartero, Dao, Dumalag, Dumarao, Ivisan, Jamindan, Maayon, Panay, Panit-an, Pilar, Pontevedra, President Roxas, Sapian, and Sigma.

The towns of Tapaz and Mambusao have one PUM each while Roxas City has 70.

PUMs are persons with no signs and symptoms but have history of travel to infected areas or were exposed to positive cases.

At present, the province of Capiz has 5,656 PUMs with 5,584 having completed the 14-day quarantine with no symptoms.

Meanwhile, three probable patients for COVID-19 are awaiting the result of their respective swab samples from Western Visayas Medical Center in Iloilo City as of April 13 records from the Provincial Health Office.

The remaining patients are among the total 117 probables for infection (then called Patients Under Investigation or PUI) and High Risk Contacts (HRC) whose specimens were extracted for laboratory examination while under hospital or self-quarantine.

Based on records, 109 tested negative for the virus while four were positive cases.

The province’s first COVID-19 patient from Jamindan town has recovered and was discharged at WVMC last week. However, he will still undergo another test after a 14-day self-restriction after the hospital release.

Two other confirmed cases are reportedly in stable condition and still admitted at the hospital while another positive case died March 29.

The province is presently under extreme enhanced community quarantine which was extended by the provincial government until April 30, 2020. (With a report from Alex Lumaque of PIA)