Virus outbreaks hit Bataan, Aurora jails

Coronavirus disease outbreaks have hit jails in the provinces of Bataan and Aurora, affecting some 150 inmates and jail guards.

The jail outbreaks were recorded just as virus cases spiked in other provinces in the country, prompting local authorities to impose stricter border controls and health and safety measures.

Local officials have themselves tested positive for COVID-19, the latest of whom was Nueva Vizcaya Gov. Carlos Padilla.

At the Bataan provincial jail operated by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Balanga City, 77 among about 800 prisoners tested positive for the disease. The infected prisoners were transferred to an out-of-jail isolation facility in Barangay Tenejero to contain the infections, said a report from the city health office (CHO).

The CHO said the prisoners were exposed to an infected visiting relative of one of the inmates. The 77 inmates were now among the 152 active cases in the city as of Monday.

In Aurora province, 75 inmates and guards at the provincial jail in the capital town of Baler also tested positive for COVID-19 on March 29.

The source of the infection was traced to three inmates but it was not immediately known how they contracted the virus.

Health officials placed the jail on temporary lockdown while the infected patients were isolated within the jail facility.

In the town of San Nicolas in Ilocos Norte province, the municipal public market was placed on lockdown after 44 people, mostly vendors, tested positive for COVID-19, local authorities said on Monday.

Local execs, too

In Nueva Vizcaya, Padilla ordered on Monday the four-day lockdown of the capitol building and its grounds for disinfection after he announced he tested positive for COVID-19.

The governor, who said he only exhibited mild symptoms, immediately went into isolation and asked those who came in contact with him to also undergo quarantine.

Five other officials in the province also contracted the virus, namely, Provincial Board Member Patricio Dumlao, and Mayors Dolores Binwag of Quezon, Pepito Balgos of Bambang, Vice Mayor Philip Dacayo of Solano and Vice Mayor Ruben Sayo of Aritao.

The officials, who held a meeting in Kayapa town recently, said the source of the infection was Binwag’s husband who joined them in a recent event in Davao City.

Last week, Vice Gov. Jose Tomas Sr. also tested positive for COVID-19. On April 2, Provincial Board Member Cirilo Galindez, 67, died from the virus.

“Our province is a convergence area that hosts bus terminals for passengers going to Ifugao, Quirino, Isabela, Cagayan and other towns in the province,” Padilla said to explain the spike of cases in Nueva Vizcaya.

As of April 4, the province had 1,457 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 403 of which were active.

In Tarlac province, Concepcion town Mayor Andres Lacson announced Sunday that he tested positive for COVID-19 after getting exposed to his close-in security aide.

Lacson said he immediately complied with all of the quarantine protocols after learning his aide contracted the virus on March 30.

More isolation facilities

A spike of COVID-19 cases were also recorded in the provinces of Pampanga and Batangas.

Pampanga recorded 1,188 new cases in a span of 15 days, with 46 deaths involving mostly senior citizens over the same period, local health data showed.

Recent figures raised the total COVID-19 cases in Pampanga to 10,197 as of April 3. Of these, 1,762 are active cases.

In Batangas, 287 single-day new cases were recorded on Sunday, bringing the total active cases in the province to 2,556, the provincial health office said.

Gov. Hermilando Mandanas ordered the establishment of more isolation facilities in strategic areas in the province to contain the continuous spike of virus cases. —

—REPORTS FROM GREG REFRACCION, TONETTE OREJAS, JOHN MICHAEL MUGAS, VILLAMOR VISAYA JR., MARIA ADELAIDA CALAYAG AND DELFIN T. MALLARI JR.