PPE SUITS FOR SEMIRARA. The Antique Provincial Government sends personal protective equipment to health workers in Semirara Wednesday morning after a positive Covid-19 case was reported on Tuesday (April 7, 2020). Semirara is under a temporary lockdown. (Photo courtesy of Antique PIO)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – Semirara, an island barangay in the island municipality of Caluya, is currently on a temporary lockdown.
Antique Provincial Information Officer Galileo Magbanua said in an interview Wednesday that Mayor Rigil Kent Lim signed Executive Order 25 on Tuesday after the town recorded its first confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) case.
“The island of Semirara shall be temporarily locked down until such order shall be lifted based on the result of Covid-19 retesting to be conducted by the Integrated Provincial Health Office and duly confirmed by Western Visayas Medical Center, Department of Pathology, sub-national laboratory that the said patient has recovered from Covid-19 and that the whole community is Covid-19 free,” part of the EO stated.
The Covid-19 positive is a 72-year-old male resident of Parañaque City who arrived in Semirara on March 9.
The patient, who is now under home quarantine, went to Semirara Mining Power Corporation (SMPC) Hospital for medical consultation for fever and difficulty of breathing last March 19.
Lim, upon learning about the positive laboratory result, immediately convened the Municipal Inter-Agency Task Force to determine urgent measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 cases in the municipality.
Meanwhile, the IPHO sent Wednesday morning personal protective equipment (PPE) to the local health workers of Caluya and the SMPC Hospital.
“The Antique provincial government through the IPHO sent 10 complete sets of PPE for the health workers there,” Dan Sabug, a nurse at the IPHO, said in a separate interview Wednesday.
He said that masks, gloves, face shields, coverall, and shoe covers were sent through the SMPC private plane that arrived at the Antique Airport in San Jose de Buenavista Wednesday.
“The health workers in Semirara will use the PPE suits since they will be getting swabs from those considered as persons under monitoring (PUMs) there,” Sabug said. (PNA)
