TUGUEGARAO CITY—Four villages in Baggao town in Cagayan province will be placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) beginning Sunday after a spike in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases was recorded.
Baggao Mayor Joan Dunuan said Saturday that those villages that will be under a seven-day lockdown were Alba, Barsaet East, Bitag Grande and Tallang as approved by the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force. The villages will be under ECQ, the most stringent form of community quarantine in the country, from 12:01 a.m. on June 6 and will last until June 12.
The town has 242 active cases with 534 recoveries and 21 deaths, as of Friday, June 4, Baggao health office records showed.
The mayor had earlier admitted in a phone interview with Inquirer that she has also tested positive for the viral disease since Sunday, May 30, but was considered asymptomatic.
She denied charges circulating on social media that she did not wear face masks in various gatherings. She said these were old videos and photos before the pandemic struck in March 2020 when gathering had been allowed.
Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba had earlier asked her to explain the allegations but she said she has yet to receive the formal memorandum letter.
Meanwhile, the mayor has also implemented the one-day suspension of operations of transient meat butchers to limit those people going to the slaughterhouse.
Slaughterhouse head Diosdado Ortiz, who had earlier suggested the suspension to the mayor, said the move would lessen the mobility of people going to the butcher area and that new equipment at the office would also be used only for the trained market workers.
The San Jose village public market, also in Baggao, was ordered to be locked down for disinfection on June 7 to 9.
Market supervisor Aysa Centeno had earlier suggested the action as some recorded deaths and active cases came from the market.
Massive disinfection has been set.