Magalong gets virus as Baguio logs 227 cases

BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — Mayor Benjamin Magalong, the country’s contact-tracing manager, has become the subject of contact tracing after being infected with the new coronavirus, and was counted among the 227 single-­day infections recorded in this city on Good Friday.

Magalong announced his condition in a social media post on Black Saturday, saying results of his reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test was released on Friday, hours after he took it.

Contracting COVID-19 was “a devastating blow for me and my family,” the mayor said, adding that “contact-tracing efforts are underway for those with whom I have come into close contact.”

The mayor did not say how he contracted the virus or if he was exhibiting any symptom.

But City Hall sources said the mayor announced that a family member had also tested positive for the virus during the regular city managers’ meeting on March 30.

Magalong informed the city officials that he was isolating himself for 10 days, the sources said.

He was initially cleared after taking a first test early in the week. But Magalong took another test on Friday that confirmed his infection after other family members contracted COVID-19, according to the sources.

“The seriousness of this pandemic is something that we should not take for granted. It is a difficult situation and I don’t want any of you to be in this condition as it is emotionally, psychologically and financially difficult for our loved ones to bear,” Magalong said in his social media post.

The 227 cases logged on Friday include RT-PCR samples processed from March 29 to April 2, according to the city information office. The new cases ramped up Baguio’s active cases to 878 out of the city’s total 7,816 patients since the pandemic struck in 2020.

The city also has 130 fatalities. But Baguio has been conducting aggressive testing and has covered 26 percent of the population, according to the Department of Health.

The city has the highest number of infections in the Cordilleras. As of Friday, the mountain region had a total 20,902 cases, of which 2,270 are active.

—With REPORTS FROM KIMBERLIE QUITASOL AND VINCENT CABREZA