BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – This urban center of more than half a million people might be having the first community-transmitted COVID cases after an unprecedented 13 people were infected by a carpenter and head of the family in the coastal village of Banago.
A government physician, however, assured the public the family that got infected had already been isolated in a quarantine facility a week ago.
City Health Officer Ma. Carmela Gensoli told DNX the 13 confirmed COVID-positive in a highly-populated sub-village in Banago can be considered a clustering of cases transmitted at the community level.
This is similar to that in Tangub village in the southern part here where a family also got infected.
Gensoli, however, added that aggressive contact tracing and disinfection measures had already been implemented.
She also recommended to civil authorities a lockdown of the area to prevent the further spread of the infection.