Covid cases in Bataan, NLanao, Zambo up

THE provincial health office reported the number of confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 cases in Bataan has risen to 125 after six new ones were confirmed on Thursday night.

New cases are those of a 35-yearold female and a 51-year-old male from Pilar town; a 22-year-old male, 28-year-old male and a 19-dayold girl from Balanga City; and a 44-year-old woman from Dinalupihan town.

Provincial health chief Dr. Rosanna Buccahan said four of the new cases are health workers of the government-run Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center.

In Iligan City, the local government of Lanao del Norte announced that five medical frontliners in the provincial hospital of Baloi town have tested positive of the coronavirus.

Gov. Imelda Quibranza Dimaporo said the five infected persons are among the 44 medical frontliners working in the provincial hospital who submitted to rapid testing.

Dimaporo said the provincial government has prepared precautionary protocols or measures, including contact tracing and disinfecting public places.

“They are set to undergo confirmatory tests with the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR). They are now in isolation facility at the old Kapatagan Provincial Hospital for observation and proper care,” said Dimaporo.

In Zamboanga City, nine prisoners freed recently by a local court in Zamboanga City have tested positive for the coronavirus.

The local task force on Covid-19 reported on Friday that the total number of infected patients in the city is now at 134. The additional Covid-19 cases were part of the 60 prisoners released from jail and underwent testing for the virus. More than half of this number is positive for the deadly respiratory disease.

“The 9 new additional Covid-19 cases are part of the second batch of freed persons deprived of liberty that were swabbed and tested before release from the City Reformatory Center. Twenty-seven others are with pending results,” Mayor Isabel Climaco-Salazar said.