A NEED for mass testing is pressed following eight Baguio City residents confirmed to have contracted the coronavirus disease (Covid–19).
Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong on Saturday, April 25, while in the middle of a meeting with the creative sector, announced the new cases involving two doctors, one nurse, and one hospital clerk, two overseas Filipino workers, one employee of a hotel resort, and a week-old baby confined at the Pines City Doctors Hospital.
Magalong underscored the need for mass testing to know who among residents are already infected with the virus.
After the confirmation of the new cases, the mayor ordered a lockdown of barangays Sto. Tomas Proper, BGH Compound, San Luis, Sector 5 of Dominican – Mirador and Woodsgate Subdivision in Camp 7 to facilitate complete and efficient contact tracing and ensure safety and security of all persons who may have come into contact with the new cases.
Magalong said for the areas on lockdown, the use of home quarantine passes is suspended directing those who need to access basic necessities to proceed to satellite markets or available rolling stores.
Residents are also asked to coordinate with their barangay officials while exit and entry into the areas is restricted except for the Authorized Persons Outside Residence (APOR) and those with medical emergencies.
Previously, Magalong said he is not confident the city only has a few cases.
“We are not really sure, not really confident we only have 18 cases (at that time). We have only done, say about 600 tests for the City of Baguio out of a 370,000 population,” the mayor said.
Among the eight infected, BGHMC employee Paola Ortiz, 28, of BGH Compound, who works as an encoder at the Out-Patient Department Registration agreed to go public in a bid to save lives and step up contact tracing efforts to curb the spread of the virus.
Herwin Siong, 34, from Lower Atab, Santo Tomas Proper also agreed to disclose his identity and details to inform persons he came in contact with to take precautions by going into self-quarantine and to go to the check themselves in the nearest health facility if experiencing symptoms.
The city now has 12 active cases, a lone death and 12 recoveries.
The parents of the city’s youngest Covid-19 patient also agreed to a full disclosure of their circumstance to help in identifying persons who came in contact with their week-old daughter.
Magalong said the parents of the week-old baby, Grail and Oliver Lugao of 317 Purok 7 San Luis Extension, expressed willingness to help track down their contacts to prevent further transmission of the virus.
The mayor said the baby is currently confined at the Pines City Doctors Hospital while surveillance is ongoing to determine the source of her infection. (With a report from Baguio City Public Information Office)