By Liezle Basa Inigo
DAGUPAN CITY---The City Information Office here reported that two male employees of a private firm in Dagupan City tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday (June 12).
According to a Department of Health (DOH) report, one of the employees is a 45-year-old company driver from Barangay Poblacion Oeste in Dagupan City, while the other is from Sta. Barbara town.
DOH noted that the two workers were among the company employees who were swabbed for specimens at their office in Dagupan City on June 8 by provincial health office personnel.
Their samples were sent to the Baguio General Hospital Molecular Biology Laboratory in Baguio City, where a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test detected SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in their samples.
It was also learned that both patients are asymptomatic.
Mayor Brian Lim ordered the immediate confinement of the Poblacion Oeste resident at the Region 1 Medical Center, where he was admitted at about 5 p.m. Friday.
Mayor Lim also directed Dr. Ophelia Rivera to swab the patient’s immediate family members and close contacts in the barangay, while the city health and DOH personnel have begun conducting contact tracing.
Barangay officials were ordered to implement strict monitoring in home quarantine while the Dagupan City police will enforce a targeted lockdown in the area.
The City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office is expected to disinfect and decontaminate the affected office.