LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte – The province of Ilocos Norte has recorded five new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases on Saturday, September 5, bringing the number of infections in the province to 66.
Ilocos Norte Communications and Media Office Officer-in-Charge Rhona Ysabel B. Daoang said that patients tagged as IN-C62 and IN-C63 were part of the expanded-targeted contacts tested in the containment and critical zones of Sarrat town, while patients IN-C64 and IN-C65 were locally stranded individuals (LSIs), who arrived in Marcos town from Taguig City.
Patient IN-C66 is a close contact of patient IN-C56, also in Sarrat town.
Patient IN-C64 has an existing co-morbidity, and was admitted for proper monitoring, while IN-C65 was his guardian.
On Friday, the province recorded three new COVID-19 cases, all in Sarrat town.
Daoang attributed the sudden increase of COVID-19 cases in the province to the continuing “expanded-targeted” testing, wherein the tests were not only conducted to the primary contacts, but also to the secondary and tertiary contacts of the positive case, and those living within the critical and containment zones.
She said that the provincial contact tracing team will do another round of “expanded-targeted testing to complete the 10 percent targeted population in Sarrat town.
Governor Matthew Marcos Manotoc ensured that the provincial government will continue to be proactive in mitigating the further spread of the COVID - 19 virus in the province.
As of press time, Sarrat town recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Ilocos Norte.
With the intensified contact tracing action conducted in Sarrat, 153 individuals, who were identified as primary and secondary contacts were already PCR swab tested.
A total of 220 more individuals within the critical and containment zones have been swab tested on Thursday.
The recent implementation of “expanded and targeted” testing is the attributed cause of the COVID-19 upsurge in the province.