Pangasinan LGUs declare lockdown, ECQ

Lingayen, Pangasinan – Eight more new cases of coronavirus disease or COVID-19 have been recorded in at least four towns in this province since Saturday, prompting some local government units (LGUs) to declare a lockdown or place their areas under extreme enhanced community quarantine.

Bani town Mayor Gwen Palafox-Yamamoto issued an order placing her town under EECQ from June 6 to today, after a police officer tested positive for COVID-19.

The officer underwent a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on June 3, which was conducted by the Provincial Health Office.

The patient is a resident of the nearby city of Alaminos and is assigned in Bani.

In Agno, Mayor Gualberto Sison declared partial lockdown of Jaena and Del Pilar streets in Barangay Poblacion East after two frontliners tested positive for COVID.

Sison said they received on Saturday the results of the swab tests conducted on their frontliners on June 3.

The results showed a jail officer and an ambulance driver tested positive for COVID.

The lockdown started at midnight yesterday and will end at midnight of June 11.

Residents were ordered to stay at home except for those who are authorized to go out to buy supplies such as food and medicine.

The town of Mabini recorded its first COVID-19 case following mass testing on June 3 for frontliners.

Mayor Ariel de Guzman said the new case is a 37-year-old man from Barangay Tagudin.

The patient was immediately placed in an isolation facility and is being monitored by the local health personnel.

Health autorities recorded yesterday four new COVID cases in the town of Sual.

The cases included medical health workers and returning residents, who underwent PCR tests conducted by the municipal government’s  partner laboratory, Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center.

Mayor Liseldo Calugay said the mass testing would continue to guide the government in identifying actions needed to address local situations,” Calugay said.

Meanwhile, two women were arrested for allegedly selling rapid test kits without authorization in Minglanilla, Cebu on Saturday.

Danna Faith Lague, 29, and Katheryn Bajar, 43, were arrested in a sting conducted by the Mandaue City police in Barangay Linao Lipata.

Police said they seized 20 rapid test kits worth at least P440,000 from the suspects. Cesar Ramirez, Neil Jayson Servallos