Navotas closes city hall, Centennial Park due to COVID-19 spike

Navotas City Mayor Toby Tiangco has ordered the temporary closure of the city hall and Centennial Park following a spike in COVID-19 cases.

According to Raffy Tima’s report on “24 Oras” on Thursday, Tiangco said the city’s daily case rate was only at 33 on February 6. However, it reached 238 on Thursday, February 25.

“Ang alarming dito is may mga city hall employees na hindi sila close contact ng kahit sino pero nagpo-positive sila so ang conclusion ng aming epidemiologist is may spread talaga sa community,” Tiangco said.

More than 2,000 city hall employees underwent mandatory swab testing. On Thursday, 46 additional staff tested positive for the virus.

“So ang analysis ng aming epidemiologist eh dahil naghahanap sila (residents) ng trabaho so in the process of looking for a job, doon nila nako-contract ‘yong COVID,” the mayor said.

Tiangco also cited the easing of curfew hours as one of the factors for the surge.

“’Yong curfew namin niluwagan namin nung February 1, that would be another factor. ‘Yong palengke dati wala noon ‘pag Linggo dahil disinfection day pero dahil sa pakiusap ng mga nagtitinda, binuksan namin noong last week ng January, that could also be a factor,” he said.

Further, Tiangco said the city government already submitted samples to the Philippine Genome Center so it can determine the variant spreading in the city.—Ma. Angelica Garcia/LDF, GMA News