AT LEAST four barangays and three communities in Polomolok town, South Cotabato province were placed under localized lockdown after the confirmed locally-acquired and transmitted coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the area increased to five as of Tuesday night.
Polomolok Mayor Honey Lumayag-Matti said the preemptive 14-day lockdown, which took effect Wednesday and will run until September 2, aims to slow down and contain the spread of the disease to other parts of the municipality.
Matti said the affected areas were the entire barangays of Poblacion, Cannery, Silway 8, Magsaysay, Purok 1 and 4 of Koronadal Proper, and Purok Cassava of Maligo.
“The movement of residents in these areas is restricted. Only those going to work and needing to buy food and other essential supplies may leave their homes but should strictly follow the health and safety protocols,” she said in a public video message on Tuesday night.
Based on the mayor’s Executive Order 37, only one family member is allowed access to the public market once a week and should carry their South Cotabato Covid-19 Contact Tracing System (SC-CCTS) cards.
Workers should present their company identification cards or certificates of employment and bring their SC-CCTS cards.
All those allowed to go out of their homes are mandated to wear face masks and face shields and strictly observe safe physical distancing.
Residents in areas not covered by the lockdown should limit their movements to essential transactions and observe curfew from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Those aged 21 years and below, 60 years and above, pregnant women, persons with disabilities, and those suffering from illnesses are not allowed to leave their homes.
Matti said the local government, through the municipal health office, would continue with the massive contact-tracing for their five active cases, which turned out to be “interconnected” although the Department of Health has to declare a local transmission in the area.
She said four of the cases were linked to the town’s third confirmed (Case No. 3) and first locally-acquired case, a 25-year-old male agricultural worker from Barangay Cannery who tested positive for Covid-19 last August 14.
Case No. 3 was traced to have attended a party last August 2 that was joined by a locally-stranded individual who just “graduated” from 14-day quarantine.
On Monday, she said the patient’s six-month-old son (Case No. 4) and two female medical workers aged 22 and 27 (Cases 5 and 6), both residents of Barangay Silway 8, turned out positive for the disease.
A 23-year-old female co-worker (Case No. 7) of Cases 5 and 6 also came out positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, Matti said, adding that Cases 4 and 5 were directly exposed to Case 3 while Cases 6 and 7 had exposure to Case 5.
The four adult patients were confined in undisclosed private hospitals while the infant was under the care of his mother, who tested negative in reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction testing, in an isolation facility, she said.
Through the electronic or digital logs of the SC-CCTS, Matti said about 4,700 individuals initially came out as possible close contacts of the adult patients but the number has so far gone down to about 1,000 based on their assessment.
The remaining number was considered as the "direct contacts" of the patients when they visited some local establishments as recorded by the system, she said.
Matti said their surveillance teams are tracking other persons who possibly had direct contact with the Covid-19 patients.
“We are doing the best we can to contain this and the only way to do it is to limit the movement of our people,” she added. (By Allen Estabillo)
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