5 Kalinga towns, city under ECQ, MECQ

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan, Philippines — The Cordillera Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases or regional IATF placed Tabuk City in Kalinga under strictest enhanced community quarantine and four other towns under modified ECQ for two weeks starting on Monday.

Tabuk health officer Henrieta Bagayao recommended a lockdown on Thursday after the city recorded 184 active coronavirus disease 2019 cases.

Meanwhile, Rizal, Lubuagan, Tanudan and Balbalan towns will be reverted to modified ECQ while Tinglayan and Pasil will be under general community quarantine (GCQ).

Only Pinukpuk will remain under modified GCQ.

The regional IATF approved the stricter quarantine status after the  Department of Health classified Kalinga and Mountain Province as “critical risk” areas.

The Cordilleras was classified as “high epidemic risk” after recording a two-week growth and average daily attack rates of 199 percent and 8.32 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, this city, which was reverted to ECQ on Wednesday logged 34 cases on Thursday.

Tuguegarao has 261 active cases, 118 of them on home quarantine.

In Ifugao, four police officers in Lagawe and three personnel of the municipal government of Aguinaldo tested positive for COVID yesterday. – Artemio Dumlao