2 women contract COVID-19 in Ecija

CABANATUAN CITY –– Two Cabanatuan women, including a dialysis patient, have been stricken with the coronavirus disease (COVID 19), the Nueva Ecija inter-agency task force reported on Tuesday (April 28).

Quoting a report from the Department of Health, the task force said the latest cases brought the number of confirmed COVID 19 patients in Nueva Ecija to 44, with three fatalities and 15 people who have since recovered.

Patient 43 is a 29-year-old resident of Barangay Sumacab Este, who is under strict home quarantine after he was discharged from a hospital on April 24.

Patient 44, on the other hand, is a 49-year-old dialysis patient from Barangay Bakod Bayan, who is now confined at the Wesleyan University-Philippines General Hospital.

Nueva Ecija has 872 patients under investigation for the virus. As many as 48 people have died while waiting for their test results.

Meanwhile, the police have stepped up the drive against quarantine violators in the runup to Labor Day on May 1, with the arrest of 481 offenders on Tuesday (April 28).

The Nueva Ecija police office said 249 of them were charged for breaking the curfew, disobeying law enforcers, illegal gambling, and ignoring the liquor ban.

Police Col. Leon Victor Rosete, Nueva Ecija police director, directed all unit commanders to intensify the crackdown on “mass gatherings and rallies” in anticipation of protests on May 1.

The quarantine covering Nueva Ecija and other high-risk provinces of Luzon has been extended to May 15.

LZB