Bahay Pamahalaan ng Lubang, Occidental Mindoro. (Photo Courtesy of Ang Pamahalaang Bayan ng Lubang Facebook Page)
CITY OF CALAPAN––The mayor of the island town of Lubang in Occidental Mindoro is appealing for assistance from the national government to aid residents in 10 villages forced into lockdown until Sept. 11 due to rising cases of COVID-19.
Lubang Mayor Michael Orayani said in an interview that the town “needs food packs,” adding that they were waiting for a response from the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.
He said the local government had given five kilos of rice per affected family.
The lockdown was imposed after two patients tested positive for COVID-19 on reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with at least 54 close contacts. One of the two patients has fully recovered.
Orayani said they were awaiting the result from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine of 24 close contacts.
The Regional Inter-Agency Task Force approved the lockdown on Aug. 29.
On lockdown are 2,866 families from Tilik, Maligaya, Likas ng Silangan, Araw at Bituin, Paraiso, Banaag ng Pag-Asa, Bagong Sikat, Maginhawa, Ninikat ng Pag-Asa, and Tagbac villages.
Orayani said the town would continue with the COVID-19 vaccination even in villages under lockdown starting Wednesday, Sept. 1.
He said that while their COVID cases were usually asymptomatic, they were careful because they do not have enough medical facilities to attend to severe cases that means transporting the patient to Manila, where hospitals are occupied.
More than 3,700 people have been vaccinated out of more than 17,000 individuals to achieve herd immunity, said Orayani.
Since the pandemic started last year, Lubang has reported 50 COVID-19 cases as of Aug. 31. One of them is an active case, 48 have recovered, and one died.