LAGAWE, Ifugao April 26 – This world heritage province recorded its fist Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) case after 40 days of the prevailing enhanced community quarantine and after being placed under general community quarantine starting May 1, 2020 while cases in nearby Benguet increased to 5.
Gov. Jerry Dalipog described the province’s 1st COVID-19 case to be a 65-year old male who is a resident of Poblacion East, Lamut town and had no history of travel.
He added that the patient had been confined 4 times at the Panudpudan District Hospital in Lamut because of an alleged lingering illness prior to his being tested positive for COVID-19 recently.
Because of the discovery of the first COVID-19 case in the province, the governor ordered the temporary suspension of the travel of stranded students and resident inside and outside the province as one the precautionary measures to prevent the further spread of the disease.
The first COVID-19 case in Ifugao reduced to 3 the provinces in the Cordillera with still zero COVID-19 cases, particularly Apayao, Kalinga and Mountain Province.
In Benguet, La Trinidad Mayor Romeo K. Salda said that the number of COVID-19 cases in the province who all come from the capital town increased to 5 following the confirmation of an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) from Barangay Lubas who is a 24-year old female as the 5th COVID-19 case.
Salda narrated that the 24-year old hotel and restaurant management intern just arrived from South Korea after undergoing her internship in the said country when she was tested positive for the deadly virus although she was asymptomatic, thus she was recommended to undergo home isolation.
He claimed that the newly confirmed COVID-19 case had no contacts in the locality as she just arrived from abroad and was required to undergo the prescribed 14-day quarantine at the Baguio Teachers Camp where she was tested to be positive of the illness.
Of the town’s 5 COVID-19 cases, 3 already recovered while 1 is still confined in a local health facility because of his being a 79-year old stroke patient from San Luis, Pugo, La union but already resided in Tebteb, Balili, La Trinidad and Timoy, Longlong, La Trinidad over the past two months.
By Dexter A. See
