New Baguio Record: 43 infections in a day/ Sept. 20

BAGUIO CITY — Setting a new Baguio record for the most coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in a day, tests released on Sunday (Sept. 20) confirmed that 43 residents have contracted the disease.

Most of the new patients have had physical interactions with previous infection cases, and are now being asked to identify other people with whom they have had contact, according to the city information office. Seven of them are children and teenagers.

The new cases raised the number of active patients in Baguio to 176.

Two villages, including a neighborhood near the local abattoir, have the biggest concentration of new cases and have been locked down for 14 days. Food packs have been readied for low-income residents there, according to Mayor Benjamin Magalong.

The new spike in cases occurred two days before Baguio and four provinces of the Ilocos Region will inaugurate a travel destination corridor or “bubble” called Ridge and Reef on Sept. 22.

The corridor opens low-risk tourism destinations exclusively to residents of the city and these provinces.

Baguio will also launch a digital travel and surveillance system which will screen aspiring tourists, and tie them to travel agents who will supervise their movement inside the summer capital.

The City Health Services Office had informed the National Task Force Against COVID-19 in a Sept. 19 meeting here that the transmission of the disease here has not stopped, but are being managed as the city slowly revives its travel and leisure industry.

As of Sunday, Baguio had recorded and treated 564 patients since the pandemic began. Twelve people have died from the disease.

A surge of cases began on August 12, and these have been attributed to the active testing of 10 percent of the city population.

The city’s medical community continues to test sectors exposed to the disease such as health workers, traders, and law enforcers to track down, isolate, and treat the infected.

Also on Sunday, Ifugao province reported 11 new infections, while Benguet province recorded three. The provinces of Abra and Kalinga have one new case each.

/MUF