Health workers conduct an aggressive contact tracing and swab testing in Ilocos Norte to determine the carriers of COVID-19. (Contributed photo)
LAOAG CITY—The province of Ilocos Norte logged at least 94 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, July 3, its highest since the pandemic began last year, local health officials said.
It was on November 29 last year when the province registered a record-high single-day infections with 92 cases.
Ilocos Norte now has 770 active COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections to 3,903.
Of the active COVID-19 cases in the province, most were found in Laoag City (193), Bangui (164), Batac City (79), Badoc (78), San Nicolas (74), and Pasuquin (23).
At least two residents also succumbed to COVID-19 complications on Saturday.
Data from the Department of Health showed that the province had registered an 89.6-percent recovery rate and a fatality rate at 1.3-percent among those who contracted COVID-19.
Ilocos Norte’s primary COVID-19 referral facility, the Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center, was “nearing critical capacity” with 48 out of 86 beds dedicated to COVID-19 patients being occupied as of Saturday.
The public hospital had appealed to the public for donations of medical supplies amid the increasing number of COVID-19 cases admitted in the facility.
Among the supplies needed by the hospital are kits to be used for real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction or RT-PCR testing, as well as disposable gloves, and surgical and N95 masks for its health workers, the hospital said.