21 new COVID cases in Zamboanga jail

MANILA, Philippines — Sixteen more inmates and five jail personnel at the Zamboanga City Reformatory Center (CRC) were found positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19, rapid tests conducted yesterday showed.

There are now 84 confirmed cases at the CRC, bringing to 94 the total number of cases in Zamboanga City, Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar, chairperson of the local inter-agency task force, said.

Authorities said the infected inmates and jail personnel are in stable condition.

In Cebu, four of the new cases are inmates set for release from the provincial jail, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia reported yesterday.

Garcia said 33 new cases were recorded in Cebu City.

There are now 1,909 COVID-19 cases in Cebu and 1,695 in Cebu City.

Department of Health (DOH)-Central Visayas director Jaime Bernada said Cebu City is the “epicenter” of COVID-19 cases in the region.

Meanwhile, a Philippine Coast Guard personnel is the second confirmed case in Ifugao.

The DOH-Cordillera regional office said the vehicle of the patient and his superior were flagged down at a quarantine checkpoint in Lamut town on May 1 and brought to a quarantine facility for testing.

The patient was confined at the Region 2 Trauma Hospital and Medical Center in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.

The first confirmed case in Ifugao is a 65-year-old villager, also in Lamut. The patient recovered on May 7.

PNP exec infected Baguio City also recorded its latest case.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the patient, Maj. Rafael Roxas, deputy chief of the fingerprint division at the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory at Camp Crame, is confined in a health facility in the city.

Magalong placed Barangay Dontogan, where Roxas and his family reside, on lockdown.

He said Roxas’ case could not be considered a local transmission, noting that he ”apparently contracted the virus in Metro Manila.”

Magalong said Roxas agreed to be identified to facilitate contact tracing. – Artemio Dumlao, Raymund Catindig, Lorraine Ecarma/The Freeman