12 villages on lockdown in the Philippines

A resident rides her bicycle past armed soldiers along a street in Navotas in suburban Manila on July 16 after the local government reimposed a lockdown in the city due to increased COVID-19 infections. Photo: CNN. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.

MANILA, Aug 13, 2020, PhilStar. Eleven barangays in Mauban town in Quezon were placed on lockdown starting yesterday following an increase in coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 cases, The Philippine Star reported.

The municipal inter-agency task force (IATF) on COVID-19 agreed during a meeting on Tuesday to impose the lockdown until Aug. 19 in Barangays Polo, Bagong Bayan and Daungan, which were declared critical zones, as well as in Barangays Sadsaran, Mabato, Rizaliana, Lual Poblacion, Lual Barrio, Soledad, Santol and San Lorenzo, which were declared containment zones.

The municipal health department said it would conduct contact tracing and swab testing during the lockdown.

The Quezon public information office recorded 568 cases in the province, 57 of them in Mauban, as of Tuesday.

In Pangasinan, Mayor Liseldo Calugay of Sual town placed Sitio Bagatan in Barangay Calombuyan on lockdown starting Monday after three cases were recorded in the area.

The Negros Occidental provincial capitol was also closed for five days starting yesterday due to a spike in confirmed cases.

Provincial administrator Rayfrando Diaz said three more capitol employees tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to eight, three of them doctors.

The Bacolod city hall had been earlier placed on lockdown after two employees died of COVID-19.

In Leyte, Mayor Saturnino Medina Jr. of Isabel town ordered the suspension of work at the municipal hall to pave the way for disinfection.

Meanwhile, in Quirino, the first confirmed case reported on Tuesday was said to be a househelper of Gov. Dakila Cua.

In a post on Facebook yesterday, Cua said he has no idea how their 24-year-old househelper contracted the virus, noting that she has not left their place since March.

In Ilagan City in Isabela, three people exposed to Mayor Jose Marie Diaz and his family tested positive for the virus.

The number of confirmed cases in Cagayan Valley breached 500 yesterday, with 80 added to the list.

In Batangas, Mayor Eric Africa of Lipa said the local IATF denied their request for a lockdown.

Africa said he ordered the removal of road blocks in compliance with the IATF directive.

He said there are 18 entry and exit points in the city, but there are not enough police personnel to man them.

As this developed, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong ordered swab testing not only for bank employees but also for grocery and department store workers.

Magalong’s move was in response to a reported clustering of cases in one of the grocery stores in the city where 14 of the 64 employees were infected.

Baguio has 69 cases with five deaths.

Raymund Catindig, Gilbert Bayoran, Artemio Dumlao, Arnell Ozaeta, Miriam Desacada

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