Vizcaya capitol, Zambales school, Zambo nursing home on lockdown

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — The provincial capitol here was placed on a 14-day lockdown starting Thursday after a provincial board member tested positive for coronavirus.

Board Member Eunice Galima-Gambol went public on Wednesday to disclose her bout with the disease, saying she may have exposed her colleagues while attending a board session on Monday.

“Now the burden is on me if ever I have infected other people… I pray that I have not,” she said in a post on social media. Due to possible contamination at the capitol, Gov. Carlos Padilla said health officials had started a massive contact tracing involving most employees.

As of Thursday, Nueva Vizcaya had 136 confirmed cases, 97 of which were active. Thirty-three of these patients had recovered while five had died.

In Zambales province, the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy in San Narciso town was also placed on lockdown for 14 days starting Thursday after 14 new cadets tested positive for the virus.

The first two cases were detected there on July 26 but it was not disclosed how the cadets contracted the virus.

In Pangasinan province, two new cases were recorded in Dagupan City on Friday, bringing the number of active cases to 13. Dr. Ophelia Rivera, COVID-19 focal person of the city, said the spike was alarming because new cases had been recorded daily since Aug. 25.

Due to the increasing number of cases, a proposed city ordinance was filed to require wearing of face shields in addition to face masks in public places and other crowded areas.

In Zamboanga City, a nursing care home was also on lockdown after at least 30 persons in the facility were infected with COVID-19, as cases in the city surged anew.

From only 594 at the end of July, the total count in the city stood at 1,201 as of Sept. 2, doubling within just a month, records from city’s health office showed. The number of deaths has also climbed from 16 to 50 within a month. — (Reports from Villamor Visaya Jr., Joanna Rose Aglibot, Yolanda Sotelo and Julie Alipala)