Aurora logs 1st case

MANILA, Philippines — Aurora province recorded its first coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 case on Wednesday.

The local inter-agency task force on COVID-19 said the patient, a 54-year-old woman and resident of Baler town, is a locally stranded individual who arrived from Pasay City on Aug. 4.

The patient was taken to the Aurora Memorial Hospital on Aug. 6 after she reportedly suffered a stroke.

Mayor Rhett Angara said the patient tested positive for the virus on Wednesday and is confined at the Paulino J. Garcia Memorial Research and Medical Center in Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija.

Aurora Gov. Gerardo Noveras said the province could still be classified as COVID-free, noting that the patient contracted the virus in Metro Manila.

”We still have no record of community transmission,” Noveras said.

Aurora’s neighboring province Quirino logged its first case on Monday.

This means Batanes is the only province in the country with no confirmed case.

Meanwhile, Bago City Mayor Nicholas Yulo said the Bago City District Hospital would be closed until Sunday for disinfection after a doctor tested positive for the virus.

In Pampanga, a 53-year-old doctor at the Our Lady of Rosary Hospital in Macabebe town died a day before test results showed that he was infected.

Mayor, kin infected

In Negros Occidental, Mayor Marvin Malacon of EB Magalona town and some of his family members tested positive for the virus, according to third district Rep. Francisco Benitez.

The mayor and his family members are recovering in a hospital in Bacolod City, his legal counsel Ariel Malunes said.

In Isabela, acting mayor Kyrill Bello of Ilagan City placed five areas on lockdown following a spike in confirmed cases.

Mayor Jose Marie Diaz is confined in a hospital in Metro Manila after he tested positive for COVID-19. His wife and two children were also infected.— Ding Cervantes, Gilbert Bayoran, Raymund Catindig, Ric Sapnu