Arayat’s first COVID-19 case is a Pampanga frontliner

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — Arayat town in Pampanga province is no longer free from the coronavirus disease.

A 50-year-old man employed at the Bureau of Quarantine at the Clark International Airport became the town’s first confirmed case, according to Arayat Mayor Emmanuel Alejandrino.

In a public advisory that was distributed in Arayat communities, Alejandrino ruled out the possibility that the patient contracted the disease in Barangay (village) San Antonio where he lives.

“Based on the information we gathered, Patient 1 got infected with the virus outside of Arayat. The possible exposure is in the National Capital Region or Clark in relation to his work in delivering specimens from locally-stranded individuals and returning overseas Filipinos,” the mayor said in the advisory.

The man has not displayed symptoms of the virus and has been quarantined in a hotel in Clark.

Rapid tests showed his immediate relatives and close contacts were not infected.

To date, only the coastal town of Masantol has been spared from the disease, according to a Pampanga government report. Pampanga has logged in a total of 139 confirmed cases. At least 98 of these patients have recovered, but 16 have died. The remaining 25 are awaiting their test results.

/MUF