Baguio resident on same flight with Omicron carrier cleared of COVID-19

RESURGENCE T he golf course at the Baguio Country Club comes alive again, with this worker ensuring the greens stay watered on Thursday, as the summer capital experiences a tourism resurgence after hitting its target for herd immunity and the coronavirus infections dropping to 20 active COVID-19 cases as of Dec. 16. —EV ESPIRITU.

BAGUIO CITY — A resident here who was on the same flight as a passenger found to have been infected with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 was cleared of the coronavirus disease, Mayor Benjamin Magalong said on Thursday.

The resident yielded negative results after a series of tests for COVID-19 while undergoing quarantine in Manila and in this city, Magalong said at a press briefing.

The mayor did not release any other detail about the resident, including the flight he or she took, except that the person remained on self-quarantine here.The two known Omicron carriers who entered the country were a Nigerian who arrived on Nov. 30 and a Filipino who arrived from Japan on Dec. 1.

With the threat posed by Omicron, Magalong said health surveillance protocols used in managing the Delta variant infections were mobilized anew, even as he stressed that vaccination was still the “key weapon” against COVID-19 and its more contagious variants.

As of Dec. 16, at least 246,017 Baguio residents have been fully vaccinated, representing 87.55 percent of its eligible population of 281,000, or way past its initial herd immunity target of 70 percent.

Baguio is targeting to vaccinate 95 percent of the population and has relaxed most quarantine rules to reopen more businesses.

Swamped with a wave of active COVID-19 cases in September and October because of the Delta variant of the virus, cases dropped within a month. From a high of 4,000 active cases, hospitals were treating only 20 active cases as of Thursday.

Reviving leisure travel

With infections dipping, Baguio is gradually reviving its tourism industry, raising its daily cap of leisure travelers from 4,000 to 5,000.

“At an average, the number of visitors who came here last November was around 68,000 to 70,000. For nontourists, we have 93,000 … so 160,000 (travelers) in one month,” Magalong said. Since Dec. 1 until Thursday, some 40,000 to 50,000 tourists and 63,000 travelers have entered the city, he added.

The city government has accredited over 50 accommodation establishments to operate their own triage and has endorsed the reopening of interregional and interprovincial bus routes with Ilocos, Pangasinan and Pampanga provinces.Baguio is also currently hosting two sports events: the resumption of the biggest and oldest amateur golf event, the Fil-Am Invitational Golf Tournament; and the National Track and Field Championships (Dec. 16-Dec.17).