Baguio, Cebu City ‘zero infection’ streaks end with new virus cases

NEAR EMPTY STREET Baguio City residents heed the order for them to stay at home, leaving the city’s streets almost empty. The city had no new coronavirus cases for two weeks until on Black Saturday when a street sweeper and her husband tested positive for the COVID-19 infection. —ALLAN MACATUNO

BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — The cities of Baguio and Cebu ended days of zero new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases after new confirmed infections were reported over the Holy Week.

Four villages in Baguio were placed on lockdown on Saturday after a street sweeper and her husband tested positive for the virus, ending the city’s 13-day streak of zero infection since March 28.

The 47-year-old woman, a resident of Barangay Dagsian, works in Barangay Scout Barrio. She was swabbed for a rapid diagnostic test on Maundy Thursday and her confirmatory result was released on Good Friday.

On Saturday, local health officials said the woman’s husband, a 58-year-old taxi driver, also tested positive.

The Baguio epidemiology team started tracking down people with whom the couple might have interacted, including barangay officials and policemen.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong also ordered the lockdown of Barangays Upper and Lower Dagsian, Hillside and Scout Barrio to contain the spread of the virus. Only essential travels would be allowed, he said.

Cebu City listed two new confirmed cases on Saturday after nearly a week of no new infection reports.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia announced in a briefing via Facebook Live on Saturday that the new confirmed cases all came from the city’s densely populated Barangay Luz, which was placed on lockdown by Sunday.

Dr. Jaime Bernadas, regional director of the Department of Health, said the two cases were among the 138 tests conducted on Saturday by Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, a subnational laboratory accredited by the World Health Organization to test samples for COVID-19.

The province and the city now have a total of 33 confirmed COVID-19 cases, or most of the 38 cases reported in Central Visayas.

Of the number of cases in the entire Cebu, only nine were considered to be “active patients,” while 18 have recovered and six others have died, Bernadas said.

Garcia has placed Cebu province (excluding the independent city of Cebu) under enhanced community quarantine on March 30, with the lockdown to stay until further notice.

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella, who imposed the lockdown until April 28, said he would need to study first if an extension was needed.

Antique province, meanwhile, recorded its first confirmed COVID-19 case after a 74-year-old man, a resident of Parañaque City who arrived on Semirara Island on March 9 on a private plane, tested positive for the disease.

Semirara lockdown

The 5,500-hectare Semirara, which is under the jurisdiction of the town of Caluya, was placed on lockdown as a result.

Caluya Mayor Rigil Kent Lim barred the entry into the island of all vessels, except for medical and other essential purposes. All residents of the three villages were also barred from leaving.

Lim, in a statement, said the patient had already recovered from symptoms of the disease but was still on home quarantine. Contact tracing was being conducted in Barangay Semirara.

Semirara, 159 kilometers from the Antique mainland, is accessible only by private plane or hours of travel by motorboat. It hosts the country’s biggest coal producer, Semirara Mining and Power Corp. of the David M. Consunji Inc.

Infected health workers

In Tarangnan town, Samar province, the villages of Imelda and Bahay were placed on total lockdown after two of their residents tested positive for COVID-19.

The two, age 32 and 56, worked at the town’s health center and were reportedly infected by a coworker. They are now confined at Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center in Tacloban City.

In San Agustin town, Isabela province, a female nurse was infected with the virus, raising the number of confirmed cases in Cagayan Valley to 26.

The 31-year-old nurse had traveled to Metro Manila where she worked as a health worker and went home on March 30 for a 14-day home quarantine, according to Dr. Leticia Cabrera, officer in charge of the regional center for health development.

The nurse was confined at Santiago Medical City on April 6 due to recurring dry cough and shortness of breath. Her swab samples were found positive for the virus two days later.

Laoac town in Pangasinan province also reported its first COVID-19 case after a health worker was infected while working in a hospital in another city.

In Nueva Ecija, a 39-year-old health worker from Cabanatuan City tested positive for the disease on Good Friday. The province also recorded two deaths among its 29 COVID-19 cases.

—REPORTS FROM VINCENT CABREZA, VILLAMOR VISAYA JR., YOLANDA SOTELO, ARMAND GALANG, JOANNA ROSE AGLIBOT, DALE ISRAEL, NESTLE SEMILLA, NESTOR P. BURGOS JR. AND JOEY GABIETA