ITBAYAT, Batanes, Philippines — The number of COVID-19 cases in central and northern Luzon has been on a downward trend since last month and some local governments have been posting zero infections for several days.
For three consecutive days since Sunday, the northernmost province of Batanes did not record any new COVID-19 cases based on the tally of the local pandemic response task force. It, however, recorded a single case on Wednesday.
The province’s active infections further dropped to 37 on Wednesday, its lowest since experiencing a surge in September when it also recorded its first community transmission.
According to local health data, at least 22 more virus-infected patients recovered from COVID-19 in the last four days, raising to 821 its number of recoveries out of 855 cases logged since the pandemic struck last year. Its death toll still stood at five.
The province was placed under the more relaxed general community quarantine, the second lowest containment classification, for the entire month of November. It was under the more restrictive modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) last month.
Zero cases, deaths
About 300 minors age 12 to 17 who have medical conditions were vaccinated against the viral disease at the Itbayat covered court on Wednesday as the province began its pediatric immunization, according to Olla de Guzman, a nurse at the rural health unit.
In Ilocos Norte, no new infections or deaths related to COVID-19 were recorded on Tuesday, according to the provincial government.
It was on Oct. 18 when the province first logged zero COVID-19 cases since it battled its worst surge in the past six months, which was largely driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.
Travel restrictions eased
The weekly recorded average number of new COVID cases started to plateau from Aug. 6 to Aug. 13 then dropped from 273.6 cases to 9.1 cases from Oct. 22 to Oct. 29.
Quarantine restrictions have also been eased as the province reverted to MGCQ on Nov. 1.
All 23 towns and cities in the province are now out of the COVID-19 red zone. Only the capital Laoag City and Banna town have at least 21 active COVID-19 cases.
In Pangasinan province, restrictions on travel and tourism activities were also loosened as it reverted to MGCQ starting Nov. 1 due to the improving COVID-19 situation.
Gov. Amado Espino III opened outdoor and indoor tourist attractions, including museums, galleries, cultural shows and exhibits up to 75-percent of venue capacity.
Returning residents or visitors only need to present a copy of a travel pass secured from the online registration website of the provincial government, their vaccination card or government-issued identification card to enter the province.
In Olongapo City, the local government began easing the restrictions due to the declining number of new infections. The city also recorded zero new cases on Monday and its active cases dropped to 53 on Tuesday, its lowest in the last eight months.
Olongapo is under alert level 2, the second most relaxed level based on the new system enforced by the government.
In Pampanga province, the number of new COVID-19 cases has tapered off in recent days to less than 30 daily from 400 daily between August and September.
Proof of vaccination
As of Monday, the provincial health office (PHO) tallied 20 new cases, 1,058 active cases, 44,311 recoveries and 2,531 deaths.
Dr. Zenon Ponce, the PHO chief, said the vaccination program helped control the spread of the virus.
Because of the downtrend, the provincial government has eased the requirements to outsiders. Instead of requiring negative results for reverse transcription polymerase-chain reaction or antigen tests, visitors are allowed to present proof of full vaccination.
The provinces of Nueva Ecija and Bulacan, which were both placed under alert level 2, also began relaxing their quarantine restrictions due to the improving number of active COVID-19 cases.
More establishments and tourist destinations in these provinces were allowed to operate with 50 percent of their capacity although local governments required the full vaccination of tourism workers prior to accommodating visitors.