By Emme Rose Santiagudo
The town of Calinog, Iloilo temporarily halted trips of passenger vans plying from the town to Iloilo City (vice versa) after a transient worker from Cebu tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
In a statement issued on Friday, Calinog Mayor Francis Calvo, said the operations of two van companies on the Calinog-Iloilo City route will temporarily stop to give way for the contact tracing of the COVID patient from Cebu.
“Kaangut sa ginapatigayon nga contact tracing, temporaryo naton nga ginpauntat ang byahe sang vans sang NYK kag CAVATCOR sa karon nga adlaw. Magapaggwa kita sang padayon nga updates sa aton nga mga ginahimu nga tikang para mabalik sa siguro ang aton nga banwa,” Calvo said.
A 37-year-old male from Cebu City who recently arrived in Iloilo province tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Department of Health-Center for Health Development Western Visayas (DOH-CHD 6).
The patient, who was considered a locally stranded and transient individual, is a helper for a delivery truck that was bound for Calinog.
According to Calvo, the patient and the truck driver, who were all residents of Cebu, traveled from Iloilo City to Calinog for a construction project in the town.
“Isa ka pahinante ka truck kag ang kaupod na nga driver, pareho pumuluyo ka Cebu, ang nagbyahe halin sa syudad paadto diya sa Calinog sa ginapadayon nga proyekto sang dam,” he said.
The two were subjected to rapid antibody test. The driver was negative while his co-worker was positive.
“Sa Iloilo, nag-gwa sa rapid test nga positibo ang pahinante kag negatibo ang driver. Ginhawidan ang pahinante para i-swab test. Sunod man nga gin-swab test ang kaupod niya nga driver. Tungod sa Calinog ang destinasyon ka anda nga pagbyahe, kag pareho nga asymptomatic, gin-turn over sanda ka probinsya sa aton nga banwa,” Calvo furthered.
The worker tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday after the RT-PCR test.
As part of the protocol, Calvo said the patient will remain at the quarantine facility in Calinog.
Contact tracing began Friday to identify the possible close contacts of the patients.
“Nagahingyo ako sa aton pumuluyo ka inyo nga paghangup nga diya sanda iquarantine kag padayon nga mag aligmat. Madasig nga ginpatigayon ang nagakaigo nga contact tracing sa mga tawo nga posible napalapitan ka pasyente kag ana nga mga kaupod bag-o iquarantine sang nakumpirma ang resulta,” he appealed for understanding from the residents of Calinog.
The worker from Calinog is among the two new cases detected by DOH-CHD 6 involving transient individuals.
A 38-year-old male police officer from San Carlos City, Pangasinan who was assigned to Iloilo City also tested positive for Covid-19.
He is currently asymptomatic and under facility quarantine in Iloilo City.
The health department reiterated that while the two new cases were detected in Western Visayas, they will be tagged to other regions.
“Diri sila ginswab but they are not residents of Western Visayas. We are reporting our confirmed cases here in the region based on their place of residency,” Dr. Marie Jocelyn Te medical coordinator for emerging and reemerging infectious diseases of DOH-CHD 6 said on Thursday.
The regional tally for Covid-19 cases remains at 164 including 109 recoveries, 44 active cases and 11 deaths.
CEBU BAN
Meanwhile, a town in Cebu province also imposed outbound travels to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The municipality of Tabuelan, Cebu banned all outgoing passengers bound for Negros and Iloilo from its municipal port starting June 17.
Tabuelan Mayor Raul Gerona issued Executive Order No. 07 on Wednesday imposing the ban on all ferry and roll-on/roll-off (RORO) vessels from Tabuelan Port.
“An increase in documented cases and individuals under COVID-19 investigation have been recorded in the region. In line with the need to foster public safety and the well-being of the constituents of the municipality of Tabuelan, it is most urgent that guidelines be established as a preventive measure to deter and eradicate the spread of Covid-19,” he said.
The EO exempts cargo and essential supplies from going in and out of the ports of Tabuelan if they observe proper protocols.
Central Visayas has led the spike of Covid-19 cases in the country in the past few weeks, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
COVID-19 cases in Central Visayas breached the 5,000 mark with 5,566 confirmed patients, as of June 16 based on the report of the DOH-7.
A report by Cebu Daily News (CDN) said a huge chunk of the cases was reported in Cebu City with 4,382 cases followed by Cebu province with 489, Mandaue City with 449, Lapu-Lapu City with 211, Negros Oriental with 23, and Bohol with 12 cases.
The spike in the COVID-19 cases in Cebu City prompted the national Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to place Cebu City under the strictest form of quarantine, particularly the Enhanced Community Quarantine from June 15 to June 30, 2020.
In the entire country, only Cebu City has been placed under ECQ while other regions are either in Modified ECQ, General Community Quarantine (GCQ), or Modified GCQ like Western Visayas.
