4 Ilocos Sur local governments revert to MECQ

Laoag City | photo courtesy of the City Government of Laoag Facebook page

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte, Philippines — Four local governments in Ilocos Sur have reverted to a two-week modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), the second most stringent containment classification in the country, that began on Friday due to climbing coronavirus infections.

In an advisory, Gov. Ryan Luis Singson said a substantial portion of the 1,743 active COVID-19 cases in the province was traced to Candon City and the towns of Narvacan, San Emilio, and Galimuyod.

But 28 other towns and cities in the province would remain under a general community quarantine with heightened restrictions until Oct. 31, Singson said.

Clamor from health workers

The province was initially placed under an enhanced community quarantine on Sept. 22 amid clamor from medical workers for stricter curbs due to the alarming speed of transmissions fueled by the Delta variant.

At least 500 Ilocos Sur health workers contracted the virus in September as the province battled its worst COVID-19 surge, according to the Ilocos Sur Medical Society.

The province’s COVID-19 bed occupancy rate has gone down to a safe level with 57.2 percent of its 423 beds currently occupied, according to the latest data from the Department of Health.

The province’s average daily attack rate, however, remained high at 17 per 100,000 population. So far, the province had logged at least 17,240 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in March 2020, of which 15,183 recovered while 313 died, according to the provincial government.

90 new cases in Tarlac

In Tarlac, the provincial government recorded 90 new COVID-19 cases raising its total COVID-19 patients to 17,448 from the time the pandemic broke out in 2020.

The virus has claimed 34 more lives, who were residents of Moncada town (eight), Victoria (six), Mayantoc (four), Paniqui (four), Santa Ignacia (four), San Manuel (three), San Jose (two), Pura (one), Ramos (one), and San Clemente (one).

The new deaths increased Tarlac’s tally of fatalities to 735.

A 2-year-old girl from Santa Ignacia was among those who succumbed to the disease.

A total of 16,392 patients have recovered.