4 La Union towns seek stricter quarantine

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan, Philippines — La Union Gov. Emmanuel Ortega sought to revert the towns of Aringay, Naguilian, Luna and Tubao to modified enhanced community quarantine or MECQ starting today until April 21 to contain the surge in COVID-19 cases.

Ortega said the local chief executives of the four towns agreed to place their areas under stricter quarantine.

In a memorandum issued on Tuesday, Ortega said half of the barangays in each of the towns have been recording a number of new cases daily.

As of Tuesday, Naguilian recorded 158 active cases; Luna, 90; Aringay, 84, and Tubao, 80.

Ortega said La Union has been classified as ”critical epidemic risk,” with its daily attack rate at 19.75 percent.

The regional Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases is expected to concur with Ortega’s proposal.

In Negros Occidental, San Carlos Mayor Renato Gustilo Carlos said the city could be placed under ECQ if the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise.

Gustilo said there were 163 active cases in the city as of Tuesday after 27 choir members, who performed in Manapla town, were infected.

Vaccinated workers infected

Meanwhile, 23 health workers at the Alcala Municipal Hospital in Cagayan, who have received their COVID-19 jabs, tested positive for the virus on Tuesday.

Mayor Christine Antonio said among those infected are doctors and nurses. She said 14 of the patients were confined in the hospital.

Antonio said most of those infected had just reported for work after taking a break to be with their families.

The family members of those infected underwent swab testing.

Cagayan provincial health officer Carlos Cortina said all hospital employees have received the first dose of their COVID-19 jabs. He did not specify the vaccine that was administered.

Early this month, a health worker died and 30 other employees at the Cagayan Valley Medical Center, who have been inoculated against COVID-19, tested positive for the virus.

The Department of Health-Cagayan Valley regional office said there is no reason to believe that the health worker died because of the vaccine. The fatality was inoculated on March 12.

The other infected hospital workers are among more than 1,500 employees who received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on March 7. They were supposed to get their second dose last Monday.

Capas mayor gets COVID

In Tarlac, Mayor Reynaldo Catacutan of Capas town tested positive for the virus.

The result of Catacutan’s reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test was released on Tuesday, according to the municipal government’s information office.

The mayor’s office will be closed for disinfection while waiting for the result of the swab tests of municipal employees who were exposed to Catacutan.

Meanwhile, in Pangasinan, former speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and his wife Gina got the first dose of their COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday.

De Venecia said he wants to show to the public, especially senior citizens in his district, that they should cooperate with the government’s vaccination program in order to have substantial protection against COVID-19. – Eva Visperas, Raymund Catindig, Gilbert Bayoran