BALANGA CITY — Eight of the 11 towns in Bataan now have zero active confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases.
Dinalupihan, Morong, Hermosa, Orion, Limay, Pilar, Mariveles and Samal have cleared all of its recorded confirmed COVID-19 cases as announced by their respective municipal government.
According to Governor Albert Raymond Garcia, Bataan has recorded 169 confirmed cases as of 1:00pm today based from the reports of the Provincial Health Office.
“Overall, 152 have recovered with only seven active cases left, while 10 have already died. Some 161 are still waiting for their test results, while 3,150 already tested negative [accumulated since January 31], and there are 20 new tested patients today,” Garcia disclosed in a statement.
The governor stressed remaining active cases in the province are mostly Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who tested positive after arriving in their home towns.
“They already provided us with a certification that they are negative to the disease, but after testing them again, results come out as positive. So mayors in the province are anxious that it may start again local transmission in their areas,” he explained.
All returning OFWs in Bataan are retested, and they go straight to the quarantine facility or undergo strict home quarantine in the discretion of their local government unit to assure community transmission is prevented as they may still be carrier of the virus.
Garcia furthered the provincial government expanded its testing capabilities as the 1Bataan-Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) Laboratory is now fully operational after receiving License to Operate from the Department of Health last June 11.
The laboratory is utilizing two types of testing machines, namely the RT-PCR and GeneXpert rapid testing machine, both capable of doing tests up to 250 a day.
Balanga City, Abucay and Bagac have two active confirmed COVID-19 cases each, while Orani town has one remaining active case.