APALIT, Pampanga – Two villages here were put on hard lockdown after 15 cases of COVID-19 cropped up anew on Sunday, July 5.
The barangays were identified as Barangay Capalangan and Sitio Pulong Cauayan in Barangay Sulipan.
“Wala pong lalabas ng bahay,” said Pampanga Governor Dennis Pineda.
The areas will be on Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) from July 5 until July 16 as recommended by local chief executives. The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) in Central Luzon also approved the request for ECQ.
Apalit Mayor Jun Tetangco identified ‘Patient 140’ as the root cause of spreading the disease in the barangays.“May anak na bumisita sa kaniya from June 12 to June 14 from Metro Manila. She manifested symptoms five days after and was admitted at the hospital on June 22 and was discharged June 24. She had difficulty breathing and was taken back to the hospital June 26,” Tetangco tracks the history of patients.
“Swab test results came on June 29 and she was positive, we do contact tracing among the six of her close contacts, five of them tested positive. We traced 48 closed contacts of the 5 positive and we have now 15 positive results among the 40, we still have 8 pending,” Tetangco added.
Municipal government now traced other 56 probable cases for COVID-19 and were now subjected for swab test.
Under the approved recommendation of ECQ, Checkpoints were established from Barangay Sulipan-Capalangan and Capalangan-Gatbuca boundaries; Mobile wet market schedules will be on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; essentials and goods will be under the barangay’s “Pabili System”; and command centers will be established involving the Municipal Health Office, Municipal Risk Reduction Management Office and others to attend to the health concerns of the residents.
Tetangco also stopped utility vehicles from entering boundaries of the infected barangay and stores will be temporarily closed.
Governor Pineda reiterated only one quarantine pass per household issued by the barangay will be acknowledged to buy goods and essentials.“Only frontliners can appeal to barangay officials to go in and out but we recommend you to temporarily stay at your work places if possible,” Pineda said. He told residents to observe health protocols.
“By Wednesday (July 8) we will do swabbing for the whole barangays,” Pineda disclosed.
To date, Pampanga has 150 positive cases with 98 recoveries and 16 deaths while another 36 were awaiting results.