Batanes reports first COVID-19 community transmission

Batanes province on Thursday confirmed that it has community transmission of coronavirus disease after four local residents with no travel history contracted the illness.

On Facebook, the Batanes government said the three patients are already isolated at Batanes General Hospital while the other patient is undergoing quarantine at the Department of Agriculture–Batanes Experiment Station.

Intensive contact tracing will be conducted for these residents, the provincial government also said.

"Dahil sila ay walang travel history, ito ay matuturing na kauna-unahang kaso ng community transmission sa probinsiya," the local government said.

(Since they have no travel history, this confirms the first community transmission in the province.)

Aside from minimum health standards, residents were reminded that mass gatherings and non-essential travels are not allowed.

Further, the local government banned people with comorbidity, minors, senior citizens and pregnant women from leaving their homes.

Authorities will also put up again their checkpoints at the borders.

Batanes was once COVID-19-free but as of Sept. 16,  it already recorded 20 total confirmed cases, with four active cases, zero fatalities and 17 recoveries.

Aside from COVID-19, Batanes also suffered from damages during the wrath of Typhoon Kiko.—LDF, GMA News