Girl, 1, among 11 newly infected with coronavirus in Ilocos Norte

Health workers carry out contract tracing in Solsona town, Ilocos Norte after seven new cases of COVID-19 were recorded there. PHOTO FROM SOLSONA MUNICIPAL GOV’T

LAOAG CITY—A year-old girl from Pagudpud, a famous tourist town in Ilocos Norte province, was one of 11 people in the province who were the latest to get infected with SARS Cov2, the virus that causes COVID-19, authorities said.

In a 10 p.m. bulletin on Thursday (March 11), the provincial government said the child was exposed to a 32-year-old market vendor. It was not immediately known if the two were related.

Aside from the child, the vendor also infected five residents in Pagudpud which included two other children aged 4 and 10.

In Solsona town, seven new COVID-19 cases were added to the COVID-19 tally after a break of zero infections in the last two months.

Of the seven patients, three are returning residents while the other two are children aged 12 and 15.

Solsona Mayor Joseph de Lara on Thursday immediately ordered contact tracing and disinfection.

He also ordered a lockdown in at least four villages to stop virus transmission.

Solsona and Pagudpud have the most active COVID-19 cases in Ilocos Norte as of Thursday, records from the provincial government showed.

Last week, the provincial government eased health protocols for both returning residents and travellers to heed public clamor.

But Gov. Matthew Marcos-Manotoc said at a press briefing on Friday (March 12)  that it was too early to say if the sudden spike of cases was due to the provincial government’s decision to dispense with quarantine as a requirement for returning residents.

Before protocols were eased, Ilocos Norte had a six-day respite with no new cases from Feb. 26 to March 3, but cases started to climb starting on March 8.

So far, Ilocos Norte has recorded a total of 809 cases, 33 of which remain active.

TSB