BY OLIVER T. VACCAY, PIA
TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan (August 11)—The Department of Health (DOH) in Region 2 has confirmed 66 additional cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in Cagayan Valley, the highest number recorded in the daily confirmatory results released in the region.
Region 2 Director Rio Magpantay of the DOH said 50 of the new cases are from Isabela province, 11 from Cagayan province, four from Nueva Vizcaya while Quirino province which was previously hailed as Covid-free now recorded one case.
In Isabela, Roxas town recorded the highest number cases with nine, six in Echague, five each in the City of Ilagan and Ramon town, four each in Tumauini and Reina Mercedes, three in Alicia, two each in San Mateo, Santa Maria, Santiago City and Quirino town while one each in Santo Tomas, Cauayan City, San Pablo, Delfin Albano, Quezon and Naguilian.
In Cagayan province, Santo Niño town has three cases, two each in Solana and Tuguegarao City, and one each in Camalaniugan, Amulung, Gattaran and Abulug.
In Nueva Vizcaya, there are three cases in Solano and one in Bambang while the first case in Quirino province was recorded in Cabarroguis town.
Of this number, 36 are locally stranded individuals from Metro Manila and in other regions with local transmissions, 21 do not have any travel history but were infected with the virus, five overseas Filipino workers and four with travel history within the region only.
Magpantay also noted that nine additional health workers were infected with the virus as they perform their duties and serving positive cases.
He said 20 individuals were infected with the virus due to local transmission or exposure to previously confirmed positive cases, one additional municipal mayor was tested positive and one additional parish priest.
As of now, officials on the ground are conducting contact tracing to determine close contacts of the new positive cases.
With this, there are already 495 cases confirmed by DOH in which 486 are the actual cases in Region 2 while nine for National Capital Region.
“We keep on reminding the public to always practice minimum health standards. If you don’t have important things to do outside, better stay at home because we have local transmission already,” Magpantay said.
He also urged local government units to strictly implement the safety measures and protocols, especially in subjecting all returning OFWs, locally stranded individuals and those with exposure to positive patients to a 14-day quarantine.