BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Another undocumented locally stranded individual (LSI) from Cebu was intercepted in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.
Police requested not to identify the LSI, although they confirmed the individual was a 25-year-old woman.
She originated from Toledo City in Cebu and rode a truck carrying a supply of fertilizer, which was driven by the woman’s father, according to Police Major Noberto Barniso, Police Community Relations chief of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office.
Barniso said this LSI was intercepted in the San Carlos’ City Homes located in Barangay V.
The LSI did not have any travel documents and did not have any proper coordination with local authorities, he added.
The LSI was immediately brought to the Julio Ledesma National High School in San Carlos City for quarantine and would undergo reverse transcription-polymerase reaction testing to find out if she was infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Last month, an LSI who attempted to escape quarantine in Cebu was intercepted in the town of Calatrava after four days of paddling his small boat.
According to the Philippine Coast Guard, the LSI originated from the town of Argao in Cebu and was desperate to go home to reunite with his family.
The national government temporarily banned the travel of LSIs coming from and going to Cebu City amid the rising cases of COVID-19 there.
The Department of Health considered Cebu City as a critical COVID-19 zone as the country logged for the third time the daily number of virus cases soared past 1,000.
On Friday, there were 1,006 confirmed cases, raising the total to 34,073.
COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus. This new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak began in Wuhan, China in December 2019.
The disease can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales.
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These droplets also land on objects and surfaces around the person. Other people then catch COVID-19 by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth./PN
