704 Davao houses locked down

DAVAO CITY , Philippines — At least 704 houses in this city, where 1,593 people tested positive for COVID-19 as of Sept. 27, have been placed on lockdown.

Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said the health group of the city task force on COVID-19 approved home quarantine for the patients.

“We implemented house lockdowns even if COVID-19 patients were not there. All the more we enforce the lockdowns now since the patients are there,” Carpio said.

She said 12 buildings, four compounds and a school where COVID cases were detected were also locked down.

At least 1,108 Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel, barangay watchmen and Public Safety Security Command Center members were helping implement the lockdown.

City COVID-19 task force spokesperson Michelle Schlosser said they are coordinating with barangay officials, the PNP safety and security cluster as well as city and district health offices to monitor the lockdowns.

Schlosser noted that in some household transmissions, all family members have been infected.

She appealed to the public to do away with social gatherings to prevent the spread of the virus.

“We have social media platforms. Let’s keep ourselves from physical social gatherings,” Schlosser said.

The city recorded 9,084 active cases as of Monday.

In Pangasinan, Mayor Julio Parayno of Urdaneta issued an executive order extending the general community quarantine (GCQ) in the city from Oct. 1 to 31.

“There is a need to build on existing response measures... maximize the gains we achieved and complement efforts to strengthen the local government unit as active COVID-19 cases near 200,” Parayno’s order read.

Also in Pangasinan, Mangaldan town was downgraded from modified enhanced community quarantine to GCQ with heightened restrictions effective yesterday.

In Negros Occidental, 70 health workers in various hospitals contracted the virus, provincial inter-agency task force officer Rayfrando Diaz said.

Medical technologists and encoders at the molecular laboratory of the Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City were among those who were infected, resulting in the delay in the release of swab test results.

The province logged 3,963 cases as of Tuesday. – Eva Visperas, Gilbert Bayoran