21 Cagayan Valley towns now COVID-19 free

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines — Twenty-one towns in Cagayan Valley now have zero active COVID-19 cases, the Department of Health reported yesterday.

These are in Aurora, Benito Soliven, Cabagan, Cordon, Dinapigue, Divilacan, Maconacon, Quezon, Sto. Tomas and Tumauini in Isabela; Aparri, Buguey, Calayan, Camalaniugan, Iguig, Sanchez Mira, Sta. Praxedes and Sta. Teresita in Cagayan; Saguday and Nagtipunan in Quirino, and Sabtang in Batanes.

Isabela, Cagayan, Quirino and Batanes were placed under the most lenient Alert Level 1 starting yesterday until March 15.

Nueva Vizcaya will remain under Alert Level 2, according to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).

Dr. Edwin Galapon, Nueva Vizcaya IATF chief, said the vaccination rate in the province should increase so it could be downgraded to Alert Level 1.

Nueva Vizcaya logged zero new cases with 35 active infections, according to its latest bulletin.

Isabela, on the other hand, has vaccinated 83.8 percent of its eligible population, according to the provincial information office.

There are 94,525 fully vaccinated residents in the province, which is equivalent to 75.1 percent of its target population.

Up to 1,043,858 or 83.3 percent of the eligible population in Isabela have received their first dose.

Meanwhile, in Eastern Visayas, three new cases were recorded on Monday, the lowest this year.

The cases were recorded in Baybay City and Burauen in Leyte and Dolores, Eastern Samar.

The three were among 133 tested in two laboratories, a ”very low” positivity rate of .02 percent. – Miriam Desacada