Pasay records 468 active Covid cases

A total of 98 new infections raised Pasay City’s active coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) tally to 465 as of Thursday, according to a report by Philippine News Agency.

Some 56 barangays are under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) while 97 households are being monitored.

Philippine National Police augmentation teams are manning the communities under localized ECQ while Metro Manila Development Authority's Oplan Kalinga is on standby to transport residents to isolation centers.

The relaxed observance of minimum safety protocols, including social distancing, contributed to the spike in the city’s Covid-19 cases, according to Miko Llorca, officer-in-charge for Pasay City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU).

Llorca said the city government has been relentless in reminding residents to adhere to minimum health standards.

"People might have relaxed," he said in Filipino during an interview with One News Channel.

Llorca also reported that the patient with the UK variant has already tested negative and is completing the 14-day mandatory quarantine period.

"We intensified contact tracing until the third generation of contacts. We also did a mass testing," he said.

Of the 29 contacts of the patient, only one tested positive for Covid-19.

Llorca said all their isolation areas are equipped and they have other facilities on standby, ready to open when needed.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government likewise provided the city with additional 100 personnel to augment contact tracing efforts while the Department of Health deployed additional nurses to assist isolation facilities’ staff.

 "We are preparing for the worst but praying for the best," he said.