Ecija has 41 COVID-19 patients, but 17 towns, cities remain uninfected

CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines – Nueva Ecija now has 41 patients infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), but 17 municipalities and cities remain uninfected as of Thursday (April 16), according to the province’s inter-agency task force (NE-IATF).

A 28-year-old nurse from Barangay (village) Sumacab Este in this city contracted the coronavirus and was admitted to the Dr. Paulino J. Garcia Memorial Research and Medical Center (PJGMRMC), said NE-IATF spokesperson Fr. Arnold Abelardo.

Fifteen of these patients have fully recovered. Two have died.

No transmissions have been recorded in the towns of Bongabon, Cabiao, Carranglan, General Tinio, Guimba, Llanera and Lupao. There are also no infections in the municipalities of Nampicuan, Pantabangan, Peñaranda, Santo Domingo and Talavera.

However, COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the towns of Licab, Quezon, Cuyapo, Aliaga and Zaragoza, each with one patient, Abelardo said. The coronavirus was also found in the municipalities of Rizal; Gen. Mamerto Natividad, Laur, and Santa Rosa, each with one case.

Cabanatuan has 15 patients; San Isidro town has three; San Antonio, two; Gapan City, eight; and one each for San Leonardo and Jaen, data from the NE-IATF shows.

The NE-IATF has asked the Department of Health for approved test kits, “so we can continue testing all our PUIs (patients under investigation),” Abelardo said.

“We want to focus on all our PUIs, have them all tested so we can treat them immediately,” he said.

In a briefing on Thursday, Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali said the provincial government will shoulder all expenses in setting up extension wards for PUIs as well as for their food and medicine. Armand Galang INQ

/MUF