LEGAZPI CITY—The coronavirus SARS Cov2, which causes COVID-19, has broken into the erstwhile coronavirus-free Iriga City, which became the latest city in the Bicol region to log COVID-19 cases on Wednesday (July 1).
A 30-year-old woman and an 8-year-old girl tested positive for the coronavirus 18 days after they arrived from Cebu City, a COVID-19 hot spot.
Both had not shown symptoms until respiratory samples were collected from them.
The Department of Health (DOH) said the patients, Iriga’s first, were isolated in a quarantine facility.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Camarines Sur has risen to 36 after two residents of Balatan town tested positive for the virus.
The two had come into contact with a 32-year-old woman who returned to Balatan from coronavirus epicenter Manila on June 25 and had tested positive for the virus.
The Bicol region now has 122 COVID-19 cases.
On Tuesday, President Rodrigo Duterte decided to keep Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte and Albay provinces under modified general community quarantine until July 15.
Of the region’s 122 cases, Albay had the most with 72. Camarines Sur had 36. Camarines Norte, Sorsogon and the island province of Catanduanes have four cases each. Masbate, another island province, has two cases.