Baguio records 2 new cases, villages locked down

By Liza Agoot 

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The Covid-19 online real-time active tracker of Baguio city government. (Screenshot of the site)  

BAGUIO CITY – Two new confirmed coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases were recorded on April 14 and 15, bringing to 17 the total number cases and leading to the lockdown of two villages here, an official said on Wednesday.

City information office chief Aileen Refuerzo said a 77-year-old male stroke patient from Maria Basa St. Pacdal was diagnosed and tested positive for the disease on Tuesday evening.

The patient started coughing and having difficulty breathing on April 6 so he went for a medical check-up in a hospital on April 13 where he was tested. The result was released on the evening of April 14.

Refuerzo said the patient's wife informed health officials doing the contact tracing that her husband never left home since the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) but was visited regularly by her nephew who works in Thailand before he left the country on March 14.

The wife claimed to had undergone a check-up for her cough on April 2 and attended a cooperative meeting in Barangay T. Alonzo on April 11.

Pacdal and T. Alonzo villages were ordered locked-down on Tuesday evening, allowing only people issued home quarantine passes with necessary travels to go out and pass the checkpoints.

On Wednesday morning, a 33-year-old male nurse at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) and resident of Woodsgate Subdivision Camp 7 village was also tested positive, Refuerzo said.

The two confirmed cases are now confined at the BGHMC and that the city is now contact tracing and mobilizing disinfection operations.

BGHMC medical officer, Dr. Ricardo Ruñez Jr. said the hospital has started to implement precautionary measures to ensure the safety of other patients and their personnel.

"Contact tracing within has started. Scaled-down operations for today but essential services will continue," he said.

Runez said only the essential personnel at the emergency room have been retained to attend to the patients who seek medical attention.

To date, Baguio records 17 cases -- four are confined in medical facilities, one death and 12 have recovered.

There are 14 probable cases or are patients under investigation with inconclusive or inadequate test results; 107 suspected cases or the PUIs with mild, severe and critical who are subject for testing and 262 suspected cases who have already recovered. (PNA)