2 Cagayan towns enforce 14-day lockdown
TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan, Philippines — The towns of Baggao and Solana in Cagayan province were placed on a 14-day enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the most restrictive form of quarantine, starting Tuesday following the increase in COVID-19 cases in these areas, officials said.
Baggao Mayor Joan Dunuan announced the town’s new quarantine status on Monday following the approval by the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
The town had recorded 317 active infections as of Tuesday, the highest among the towns in the province, data from the Cagayan provincial health office showed.
Baggao, previously under the less restrictive general community quarantine (GCQ), had logged 1,720 COVID-19 cases with 58 deaths related to the disease since the pandemic struck last year.
Contact tracing
Dunuan has ordered a liquor ban and longer curfew period from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. to curb the virus spread. She also directed government workers, except for those involved in emergency services, to work from home.
In Solana, the shift to ECQ from GCQ with heightened restrictions was also due to its rising COVID-19 cases. Its active infections rose to 211 on Tuesday.
The outpatient services of the municipal health office was suspended to give way to contact tracing and disinfection after some of its health-care workers tested positive for COVID-19.In Isabela province, at least 48 villages in the capital city of Ilagan were placed under a localized lockdown from Aug. 23 to Aug. 28 to contain the spread of COVID-19.
In an executive order, Ilagan Mayor Josemarie Diaz said the move was necessary as the city’s active cases rose to 112 on Aug. 22.
More than 100 others are waiting for results of confirmatory tests after their antigen tests returned positive results for COVID-19.
According to the city health office, the average daily attack rate (Adar) in Ilagan is 6.93. Adar is the number of new daily cases per 100,000 population and an area will be considered high risk if its Adar is 7 and above.
—VILLAMOR VISAYA JR.
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