Talisay mayor: Covid-19 cases to increase

Talisay City mayor Samsam Gullas says he expects more patients to come out as COVID-19 positive in the coming days.

“I cannot say for the fact that there will be no more positive cases. Even if we are on GCQ (general community quarantine), MECQ (modified enhanced community quarantine), or we transition to the new normal,” said Gullas in a video on his official Facebook page.

The mayor says more cases are expected to be recorded since massive contact tracing activities are being conducted. 

“As a matter of fact majority sa nag-positive (who turned positive) over the weekend kay nag-positive ang atong gi-swab sa contact tracing sa mga napositive sa una (were individuals we swabbed during contact tracing from the previous positive patients),” he explained.

Gullas says contact tracing revealed that Patient 8 infected 2 individuals and Patient 10 infected 6 others, including Patients 11 and 13, 14, and Patient 9. 

All those who were swab-tested but are waiting for their results are under isolation. 

Gullas says apart from contact tracing, local health personnel have also been checking on barangay residents for symptoms of Influenza-like illnesses (ILI), a category of diseases that COVID-19 is under. Two residents from Barangay Cansojong were earlier tagged as having ILI symptoms and later turned out positive for the coronavirus. 

Meanwhile, Sitios Magay and Tugang in Barangay Tangke have already been locked down following the increase of covid cases in the areas. Tangke is one of the heavily populated sections of the city. 

Gullas assures that after quarantine is lifted he will designate zones in every barangay and identify densely populated areas. 

As of May 26, Talisay city has 26 positive cases. The number rose over the weekend. Eighteen cases have been reported since Friday. 

Talisay’s first positive case was reported in late March and the second a month after. The city has since closed its borders from neighboring Cebu City, where over 2,000 cases have already been confirmed.

Talisay remains under MECQ while most of Cebu is under GCQ status. The mayor earlier opted to shift to MECQ instead of GCQ after the number of positive cases rose in his city.