-
CAGAYAN DE ORO (MindaNews / 09 July) — The city government has deployed more medical workers to Laguindingan Airport in Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental and the seaport in Barangay Macabalan here as hundreds of returning overseas workers and locally stranded individuals started arriving every day from Manila.
Mayor Oscar Moreno said the move signaled the shift of the battle against COVID-19 from the urban poor communities in the city to these port of entries as three more positive cases were reported Thursday.
Moreno said he had instructed the City Health Office to station health workers 24/7 in the two ports.
“The health workers sleep there and wait for the new arrivals,” he said.
City Health Office epidemiologist Dr. Jose Retuya said the three new arrivals— two overseas workers and a stranded resident who arrived last week—were found positive of COVID-19 through RT-PCR tests.
Retuya said the three individuals, who were all asymptomatic, were sent to the city isolation unit to undergo a 14-day quarantine before swab tests were taken.
“The most important thing is that they were immediately sent to our isolation units for quarantine. They have no chance to spread the virus in the city,” Moreno said.
The mayor said Laguindingan Airport and Macabalan seaport have become crucial with the daily arrival of returning residents.
He said the returning residents accounted for 49 of the 79 cumulative active COVID-19 cases in the city. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)