Gov’t holds mass swab testing in Aurora due to spike in COVID-19 cases

Personnel of the Department of Health prepare to conduct RT-PCR test to frontliners, essential workers and kin of COVID-19 patients in Baler town, Aurora province. (Photo from the Municipal Government of Baler)

MABALACAT CITY, Pampanga – Some 4,000 municipal government employees and family members of active COVID-19 cases in Aurora province were subjected to a two-day swab testing over the weekend, an official said.

In an advisory, Aurora Gov. Gerardo Noveras on Sunday said another testing was held at the Capitol ground for all officials and employees of the Aurora provincial government. They underwent reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests.

Noveras said those who were assigned to offices with COVID-19 cases were prioritized.

COVID-19 testing czar Vivencio Dizon sent medical teams to Aurora on Thursday, May 28, after Noveras sought help to conduct mass swab testing in the eight towns of the province.

In his letter dated May 14, Noveras told Dizon that Aurora was continuously registering COVID-19 active cases for the past three months and remained a high-risk area due to the absence of hospitals capable of treating severe and critical COVID-19 cases.

Noveras said close contacts of COVID-19 patients, frontliners, and essential workers needed to be swab tested to curb the spread of the viral disease.

He said about 4,000 persons or at least 500 individuals in every town of the province have been identified for the testing.

Dizon sent a medical team from the Department of Health Region 3 office based in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga to Aurora. The team was assisted by the DOH-Aurora field office and their provincial and municipal counterparts.

Before the mass testing was conducted, Noveras requested all mayors of the eight towns to provide the lunch and snacks for the DOH medical team, while the provincial government shouldered the accommodation and dinner for the team. This, he said, served as the province’s contribution to the mass testing.

On May 29, Aurora recorded nine new COVID-19 cases, bringing its total case to 990. It has 207 active cases.

The death of a COVID-19 patient from the capital town of Baler brought the number of deaths to 40. Some 743 patients have recovered from the viral disease.