Patient No. 1’ arrived in Bacolod City on February 29
By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Western Visayas has recorded two confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease, or Covid-19 in the region. Based on information released by the Department of Health-Region VI (DOH-6), the first case was recorded late Friday evening in Bacolod City involving a 56-year-old man.
Dubbed “Patient No.1 ,” Mayor Evelio Leonardia said the individual arrived in Bacolod City on February 29 and had recently visited London, United Kingdom. The mayor said the patient is “stable and recovering” and has since ordered the City Health Office to conduct immediate contact tracing.
The following day, DOH-6 announced a second coronavirus case in the region with DOH-6 director, Dr. Marlyn Convocar, identifying the patient as a 65-year-old male from Guimbal, Iloilo.
She said the second patient has no travel history but suspect he may have contracted the virus from relatives who have recently visited Japan and were asymptomatic.
According to a recent update from DOH-6, the patient is said to be in “unstable condition.”
The Guimbal town government has also conducted contact tracing while the patient’s family were placed on home quarantine.
In response to the developments, both local governments further intensified quarantine measures such as strict curfew implementation and strengthened border monitoring./DGB, WDJ