LIGAO CITY—Ten people from the more than 200 Masbate-bound passengers who were stranded at the Pio Duran port in Albay province have tested positive for COVID-19, health and local officials said on Thursday.
They were among 257 travelers who were stuck in port for more than five days after the Masbate provincial government stopped unvaccinated persons from entering the island province.
They tested positive for COVID-19 in an antigen testing conducted on Wednesday afternoon by health workers from Masbate who were sent to Pio Duran to assess their health condition before they were allowed to board a vessel sent by the provincial government, said Noel Ordoña, municipal disaster risk reduction management officer of Pio Duran.
Humanitarian reasons
“The 10 individuals that turned COVID-19 positive were ferried in a separate vessel [also sent by Masbate] in order to prevent the possible spread of the virus,” Ordoña said in a telephone interview on Thursday.
Masbate Gov. Antonio Kho has no plan to rescind or suspend Executive Order No. 26, which barred unvaccinated travelers from entering the province, according to the governor’s wife, Rep. Elisa Olga Kho, in a text message on Thursday.
“We can’t sacrifice the health of 1 million Masbateños because of these returning individuals without any vaccination and are not armed with negative COVID test results. We allowed them to enter the province for humanitarian reasons wherein we gave them free ride,” Rep. Kho said.
The stranded passengers ferried to Masbate would be the first and last group of unvaccinated people who would be allowed to enter the province, she added.
The 10 infected passengers, who were asymptomatic, would be turned over to their local governments and would be isolated for 14 days, said Dr. Luisito Co, Masbate provincial health officer.
He said the returning residents who tested negative were also advised to go on quarantine as a precaution.
With the surge of COVID-19 cases in the province, health workers are having a hard time handling those infected, with 35 patients being treated at the provincial hospital in the capital Masbate City, Co said.