Barangay Tetuan now working to aid residents inside lockdown zone

ZAMBOANGA CITY’s barangay officials in Tetuan have begun Thursday getting the list of names of every residents in a neighborhood now under total lockdown after a woman living there is tested positive for the novel coronavirus, or Covid-19.


One barangay tanod went around telling residents to prepare the list of family members so they can provide food. “This is what we are doing now so we can the residents here as per order of Barangay Tetuan Chieftain Walmart Atilano and Major Mark Anthony Karanain, chief of Police Station 6,” he told the Zamboanga Post.

Atilano also ordered workers to regularly spray disinfectant inside the lockdown zone – an area of about 100 meters along Don Alfaro Street.

Barangay Tetuan Chairman Walmart Atilano (Zamboanga Post)

“I am appealing to all please stay at home, especially now that we have a Covid-19 positive here in Barangay Tetuan. Please help us, support us in the Barangay. Here at the lockdown area, we are going to assign people here to help you buy the essential things, basic necessities you may need,” Atilano said. 

“We are going to deploy a vehicle here to assist you all. We also assigned two tanods here to assist those who need help. Please bear with us as we all go through this. This lockdown may still prolong and we are coordinating closely with the local government on how more we can help you here,” he added.

On Wednesday, Mayor Beng Climaco announced that a 30-year old woman in Tetuan is positive for the new coronavirus, making her the 3^rd to be infected with the deadly respiratory disease in Zamboanga City.

“The third COVID case in Zamboanga City is confirmed today, April 1. The 3rd confirmed case is a 30-year-old female from Tetuan, with no travel history. She is currently confined at the Zamboanga City Medical Center,” she said.

Hours after she made the announcement, the woman’s neighborhood is placed under a total lockdown and residents are not allowed to roam the streets and only told to stay at home. It was unknown how villagers would sustain their daily needs. 

Climaco again appealed to residents to stay at home and maintain cleanliness at all times to avoid getting the virus.

“Once again, we remind the public to please remain calm and to remain home. At this time, the best course of action to take is to stay home, maintain social distancing, and practice regular hand washing. Do not go out of your house and please do not panic,” she said.

On March, Climaco also announced that a local woman who had travelled to Manila and returned home was tested positive for the coronavirus. She said the 48-year old woman is from Tumaga village and is now in hospital.

She is the second Covid-19 positive patient after a 29-year old man, who returned here from Manila, was also tested positive for the Covid-19, as announced by Climaco on March 25. The man is now placed under a strict quarantine.

The local government imposed an enhanced community quarantine since early this month to stop the spread of the virus that has infected over 2000 people in the country and had already killed at least 8 dozen more, mostly in metropolitan areas in Luzon and the number of infected people continue to increase with no signs of the virus contamination slowing down.

Zamboanga City now has 22 persons under investigation, or PUIs, after 17 of them tested negative, and over 2000 persons under monitoring, or PUMs, although more than 500 completed their 2-week home quarantine.

PUI is a person that shows symptoms of cough, colds and fever with a travel or contact history to countries or person that is affected with Covid-19. And PUM are those with travel and contact history to countries or person that is affected with Covid 19 but not displayed any symptoms and is advised to undergo a 14-day self-quarantine at home to be monitored by health workers.

Three other positive Covid-19 cases were also reported in Zamboanga del Sur province on March 30 - a 52-year old man in Labangan town and a 62-year old woman in the capital city of Pagadian, and a seven-year old boy in Dumalinao town. All of them are now in hospital.

The Covid-19, now a global pandemic, broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year, and quickly spread to over 100 countries with China recording over 81,000 infections and more than 3,200 deaths. (Zamboanga Post)

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