BY OLIVER T. BACCAY, PIA
TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan (September 18)—The Department of Health (DOH) in Region 2 (Cagayan Valley) has reported a total of 19 death cases related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the Cagayan Valley region.
Dr. Karina Joy Peca-at said 10 of the cases are from Nueva Vizcaya, five in Isabela, one in Santiago City, three in Cagayan and none in Quirino province.
Peca-at said there are additional 56 positive cases from different provinces of the region which increased the total Covid-19 cases in the Cagayan Valley region to 1,305 in which 439 are active while 847 have already recovered.
“Though there is an increasing number of mortalities in the region, our case fatality rate is still low at 1.4 percent,” Peca-at said.
Of the regional data in its report on September 16, local transmission cases now overtake other categories with 49 percent, followed by imported cases which are 34 percent, returning overseas Filipinos with 9 percent and health care workers with 8 percent.
She said 55 percent of the total cases are males in which the youngest infected was 4-month old while the oldest was 85 years old, and the most affected age group is at 21 to 30 years old.
Peca-at also said 51 percent of the active cases are now at the temporary treatment and monitoring facilities, 30 percent are on home quarantine, 17 percent are inpatient and 2 percent for verification.
“We urge the local officials to provide separate rooms for confirmed, suspected and probable cases. We receive reports that there are quarantine facilities that have only one space for all types of cases,” Peca-at said.
There were 21,692 specimen samples collected in the region in which 20,387 were tested negative while only 1,305 tested positive which also elevated the positivity rate to 6.0 percent, the highest so far in the Covid-19 watch in Cagayan Valley.