SUBIC BAY FREEPORT –– This economic zone recorded its first cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) since the pandemic began, but officials here said there had been no local transmission.
Wilma Eisma, chair of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), said two of the fresh cases are residents here.
The first patient is a 22-year-old woman, who was exposed to a visitor from Manila while the second patient is a 42-year-old man, who works in Laguna province, but had been returning here on weekends.
“Both are asymptomatic and in self-quarantine pending their transfer to an isolation and care facility,” Eisma said in a statement.
The families of the two patients had tested negative for COVID-19.
On Tuesday night, however, six more patients, who recently visited the freeport, also tested positive for the virus.
Two of them had reportedly left the freeport before their swab test results came out while the other four are on quarantine here.