5 Covid-19 cases recorded in Benguet

BENGUET noted five additional Covid-19 cases from the towns of Kapangan, Sablan and La Trinidad.

As of Wednesday, August 5, 2020, Benguet has 86 Covid-19 confirmed cases with 50 individuals recovering.

Governor Melchor Diclas said with the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the province, they are now preparing the full operation of the Temporary Provincial Quarantine Facility 2 in Barangay Wangal, La Trinidad with a 30-bed capacity.

Diclas added the facility is intended for Covid-19 confirmed patients in the province and that they are hiring nurses for the facility.

Since the start of the community quarantine, the Benguet General Hospital (BeGH) continues to attend to Covid-19 positive patients while the Temporary Provincial Quarantine Facility 1, located at the Benguet Training Center, serves as a triage area and quarantine facility for locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and returning overseas Filipino workers (ROFWs).

The latest recoveries include two patients from Itogon and Mankayan, bringing down the confined patients in Benguet General Hospital to 27.

Benguet officials added the BeGH has a maximum bed capacity of 33 for Covid-19 positive patients.

The governor added contact tracing is currently being carried out in the different Benguet towns at the municipal level, with the provincial epidemiology and surveillance unit overseeing the operations.

“Per barangay there are contact tracing teams that are supervised by the doctors. Here in La Trinidad, they have three doctors to supervise in contact tracing,” the governor said.

To recall, there were only three Covid-19 confirmed cases in the province on July 24. Following consecutive recoveries, however, an increase was seen days after as the province facilitated expanded testing.