by Eva Visperas (The Philippine Star), 4 Oct 2020
STA. BARBARA, Pangasinan – This town has recorded an unprecedented single-day surge in the number of coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID cases.
Mayor Joel delos Santos said 79 essential workers of a big company, which he did not identify, were found infected on Friday night.
Delos Santos said granular lockdowns were implemented in affected barangays aside from intensified contact tracing.
He said all the patients would be transferred to the municipal government’s isolation facilities.
Delos Santos said the premises of the company is among those under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) under Executive Order 75 he issued on Friday.
The EO placed Barangays Tebag West, Maticmatic, Banaoang, Carusucan and Ventinilla under ECQ for 14 days in coordination with the regional inter-agency task force or IATF on COVID-19.
”Safeguarding the health of the populace while allowing our economy and livelihood to flourish is a continuing balancing act,” Delos Santos said.
No local transmission
Meanwhile, in Batanes, the provincial government said the 16 co-passengers of the two confirmed cases, who arrived in Basco on an Air Force plane on Sept. 22, tested negative for the virus yesterday.
The 86 frontliners who accommodated the passengers yielded negative results on Friday.
“We are confident that the first two confirmed COVID-19 cases in the province have been successfully contained and that there is no evidence of local transmission,” the provincial government said in a post on Facebook yesterday.
It said the two patients remain asymptomatic and are under isolation for continuous observation and management.
In Cagayan, Tuguegarao City, which reverted to modified ECQ starting yesterday, recorded 13 new cases.
The city health office said two children, aged 11 and seven, and a pregnant woman are among the patients.
The city recorded an increase in confirmed cases in the past two weeks, most of them traced to drinking binges.
Moratorium on LSIs
In Negros Oriental, the regional IATF approved the request of Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson for a moratorium on the return of LSIs from Oct. 3 to 9.
The task force said LSIs bound for Bacolod City would be allowed to enter only through the Bacolod-Silay airport.
Lacson said the moratorium would pave the way for decongestion and disinfection their quarantine facilities. – Raymund Catindig, Gilbert Bayoran
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