Cordillera COVID-19 watch: More returning residents test positive; 87 total cases

BAGUIO CITY — A number of Cordillera residents returning from Metro Manila and overseas have tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as the the number of infections in the region rose to 87 as of June 13, 2020.

New COVID-19 cases were recorded this week in Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao and Baguio City, which have shifted to a modified general community quarantine.

Only Mountain Province has so far been spared from infection since the Luzon lockdown in March.

The latest patients are two migrant workers who returned to the Ifugao towns of Kiangan and Lamut on a bus that also carried a COVID-19 positive passenger from Lagawe, according to Dr. Joseph Bulayungan, chief of the Ifugao General Hospital.

They were cleared by confirmatory tests in Manila after they fulfilled their mandatory 14-day quarantine there.

The patients from Kiangan and Lamut were taken to the Region-2 Trauma and Medical Center in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, according to the Philippine Information Agency.

In Tinglayan, Kalinag, Barangay Butbut Proper was locked down following reports that a resident boarded the same a bus that carried one of Kalinga province’s infected patients , said Mayor Sacrament Gumilab.

On Independence Day, the Benguet town of Sablan was locked down to facilitate contact tracing measures after a municipal government driver contracted the disease, said Mayor Manuel Munar Jr.

gsg