Oriental Mindoro village where UK variant-hit patient died on ‘critical lockdown’ until June 7

Image: koto_feja/IStock.com via AFP

CITY OF CALAPAN — Laguna, a village in Naujan town in Oriental Mindoro where a patient found infected with the UK coronavirus variant died in March, will be on “critical lockdown” for two weeks starting Tuesday, May 25.

The lockdown covers 372 households and will be in effect until June 7, according to Municipal Executive Order No. 21-024 issued by Naujan Mayor Mark Navarro Marcos.

Marcos said massive contact tracing was undertaken after the village resident who died of COVID-19 was detected to had been infected with the UK variant of SARS-CoV-2. At least 46 individuals initially underwent reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing.

“Twelve of this tested positive, including three who were re-infected. The 12 remain asymptomatic as of the moment,” said Marcos.

The municipal health officer recommended placing the village under critical zone lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus.

As of May 23, Naujan has logged 209 total COVID-19 cases since March 2020. Of the total cases, 61 are active, 142 are recoveries, and six are fatalities.

Oriental Mindoro province has logged a total of 3, 214 cases, of which 496 are active, 2,619 are recoveries and 99 are deaths.