CAR posts 206 Covid-19 recoveries, 22 new cases

By Liza Agoot 

BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) has logged 206 new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) recoveries on Friday, according to the Department of Health (DOH) in the region.
    The recoveries were recorded in Baguio City with 114 while Benguet Province had 92.
    The region has 4,740 total recoveries out of the 5,214 total cases and 58 deaths since March.
    Meanwhile, Baguio continues to implement measures to further curb its Covid-19 infections.
    There were 10 new cases on Friday, the lowest daily record logged in the past three months.
    The city saw a spike in cases starting September as a result of a series of mass testing conducted by the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) and the National Task Force against Covid-19.
    The increase was also due to the effective contact tracing which maintains an average ratio of 1:37 for every positive Covid patient.
    With the local transmissions happening where the city's geo-tagging analysis showing BLISTT (Baguio, La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba, and Tublay) cases spread among the local government units, Mayor Benjamin Magalong on Thursday issued stricter entry protocols for residents of the LSTT towns from Nov. 21 to Dec. 4.
    The mayor said the same restriction was proven effective when it was done in Itogon last Nov. 3 to 15 when Covid-19 cases in the town spiked to 74 on Oct. 22 to as high as 149 on Nov. 1 -- mostly workers in the mining companies.
    While Covid-19 cases in Baguio are relatively higher compared to the nearby municipalities, Magalong said the border restriction is meant to mitigate the spread of infection by limiting inter-municipal movement.
    Magalong said the restricted access will also give time for the LGUs to implement expanded testing for them to determine Covid hotspots and assess the effectiveness of the current response measures.
    “As members of the BLISTT it goes without saying that we will all extend the necessary and vital assistance to each other to ensure that expanded testing is conducted,” Magalong said. (PNA)