LOCAL health authorities in Vigan, Ilocos Sur has announced that the city will extend the imposition of modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) until September 7 due to the continuing surge of COVID-19 cases.
Pusuant to Executive Order No. 99 publicly released on Sunday, Ilocos Sur Governor Ryan Luis Singson stretched the second most stringent community quarantine which was initially expected to end on August 23.
According to Vigan Mayor Juan Carlo Medina, the increasing number of COVID-19 cases and the potential risks brought by highly contagious variants prompted health officials to retain the city’s MECQ quarantine status.
“With the continued rise of cases and COVID-19 related deaths in the city, adding the threat of the other highly transmissible variants such as the Delta and Lambda variants, again and again, we implore your cooperation. Please stay at your homes and keep safe,” Medina said.
Medina first shared on August 16 that the city recorded three positive cases who were infected with Beta (B.1.351) variant, a variant first detected in South Africa in September 2020.
Of the three patients, a 34-year-old female from Barangay Salindeg was reportedly swabbed on July 25 and recovered last August 11. Meanwhile, the other two individuals were identified as males aged 12 years old and 29 years old from Barangay Capangpangan who had both undergone swabbing on July 20 and recovered last August 6.
The Vigan mayor further assured that they remain vigilant after learning about the cases by thoroughly implementing contact tracing, testing, and ensuring that protocols within the patients’ residences were observed until their discharge, full recovery, or isolation in the facilities.
“We have long noted a more transmissible COVID-19 in the recent cases diagnosed in the city. Some have no noted exposures or travel histories. Some have infected almost all of their family or household members. The emergence of variants was suspected and now rings true,” he added.
Amid the woes of the highly contagious variants, Medina also remarked that preventing the virus to mutate and be transmitted requires containing it by means of vaccination against COVID-19 and adherence to minimum health protocols.
“As we have said: mask up, keep distant, and roll up your sleeves. The virus is everywhere and it is up to us, individually, to ensure we are bounded, defended, and protected,” the local chief concluded.
Photo Credit: Jesse Alegre