Ilocos provinces log most COVID-19 cases outside Metro Manila
LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte, Philippines — Two provinces in the Ilocos region were among the areas that recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases outside Metro Manila on Monday, data from the OCTA Research showed.
Ilocos Sur added at least 589 new COVID-19 cases in its tally on Monday, the highest single-day increase logged among provinces in the country, while La Union province had registered at least 462 new COVID-19 cases, the sixth highest among the provinces.
Data from the Department of Health (DOH) showed that the two provinces, which were experiencing their worst virus outbreaks since the pandemic struck last year, had both registered a positive growth rate in the past two weeks.
Ilocos Sur posted a 36.5-percent increase in growth rate while the infection spread in La Union rose to 113.9 percent.
Outbreak in San Fernando
A substantial portion of the new infections in La Union came from its capital city of San Fernando, with COVID-19 cases rising by almost 600 percent from 247 to 1,420 cases in just a month, the city government said in an advisory on Oct. 2.
On Sept. 25, the DOH confirmed the presence of the highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19 in San Fernando.
At least 197 new infections had been recorded in the city on Monday, making it one of the highest single-day increases in COVID-19 cases among cities and towns across the country situated outside Metro Manila.Officials worried
The sharp increase in COVID-19 cases had worried officials in San Fernando as the death toll had begun to climb with 50 residents dying due to COVID-19 complications in September alone.
At least five other residents in the city had succumbed to the viral disease in the first week of October, the city government said.
The DOH said Ilocos Sur’s capital city of Vigan also saw at least 116 new COVID-19 cases, also among the highest in the country on Monday.
With the surge in COVID-19 cases in Vigan, Mayor Juan Carlo Medina reminded residents to “not get tired and weary of complying with health protocols as these measures are the only methods of protection for ourselves.”
Local health officials said the surge in cases in La Union and Ilocos Sur has been straining both public and private hospitals.
The provincial governments of Ilocos Sur and La Union had placed their capital cities under enhanced community quarantine, the strictest containment classification in the country.
