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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The municipality of Talakag in Bukidnon has been placed under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) for 15 days starting last Wednesday after health authorities learned that a returning overseas worker was infected with the COVID-19 Delta variant.
Talakag Mayor Vergito Factura ordered non-essential businesses such as recreation, amusement and tourism sites to temporarily cease operations.
Mass gatherings are also prohibited except for religious services but only up to 10 percent of venue capacity. Factura also imposed an 8-hour curfew, from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.
The Delta variant case in Talakag is the seventh in Northern Mindanao, according to Department of Health regional director Jose Llacuna Jr.
The patient returned from Kuwait. She and her family are now at a DOH isolation facility in Cagayan de Oro City. Her close contacts, according to Llacuna are set to be tested for COVID-19 infection.
With the discovery of the Delta variant in the region, the DOH has ordered local governments to ramp up their prevention efforts against COVID-19.
At the Northern Mindanao Medical Center, the region’s main COVID-19 referral facility, Dr. Gina Itchon, the hospital’s research and development chief, said they are preparing for another surge of cases.
Earlier, five variant cases were recorded in Cagayan de Oro City and one in Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental.
Apart from Talakag, restrictions in the movement of people are also imposed in Manolo Fortich town by the Bukidnon provincial government due to its proximity to Cagayan de Oro.
Four of the Delta variant cases in the city were infected by a 39-year-old private sector worker based in Manolo Fortich.