Benguet veggie truckers told: Take Covid-19 test

By Pigeon Lobien  

BAGUIO CITY – Benguet vegetable truckers and their helpers were told to undergo rapid testing for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) prior to their trip to Manila and to go into quarantine upon their return.

“Truckers should undergo rapid testing before their trip and undergo quarantine once they return,” provincial health officer, Dr. Mercedes Calpito said during the online press conference on Tuesday.

Calpito made this plea after the province recorded two more new cases in the past two days, raising the active cases to 14.

Calpito said that the two latest cases had a history of travel to Metro Manila and Region III (Central Luzon).

Benguet health workers were able to track down the patient’s travel companion in Tuba town. The patient was brought to the Benguet General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) for his test which proved positive and was eventually confined.

Benguet vegetable truckers travel to the National Capital Region which has the most cases of Covid-19 with 12,000 of the 21,895 recorded national cases.

Quezon City and Manila, where the vegetables are brought, have the most cases among the cities in the country.

Most of the cases in Baguio and Benguet, the hardest hit local government units in the region, have a history of travel to Metro Manila and Calabarzon, the country’s third hardest hit with 1,810 cases after Central Visayas with 3,442 cases.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health-Cordillera Administrative Region (DOH-CAR) regional director, Dr. Amelita Pangilinan said that Abra recorded its fourth case after more than a month of zero cases. The patient is a 32-year-old female nurse from Lapaz town, who works at the Seares Hospital.

Baguio has five active cases of the 36 total, while Ifugao has two and Apayao, one. (PNA)