SAN JOSE, Antique – By the end of this month, only “isolated cases” of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could be emerging in Antique, according to Dr. Leoncio Abiera Jr., provincial health officer.
The Provincial Health Office is strengthening its containment measures against COVID-19, he said.
COVID-19 cases in Antique are on the decline, insisted the province’s health officer.
As of yesterday, April 18, Antique recorded 39 new cases, data from the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 showed. The province had 567 total active cases, 204 cases that recovered and seven deaths.
Antique had seen a surge in cases at the start of April, data from the Department of Health – Region 6 showed.
However, Abiera played it down.
The “all-time high” recorded COVID-19 cases on April 14 was due to delayed reporting, which he said was also because of the delay in the release of results of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction tests.
On April 14, Antique recorded 98 new cases, according to the Department of Health- Region 6 — the highest number of cases in a single day recorded in Antique since the coronavirus pandemic exploded in March 2020.
According to Abiera, these were actually cumulative cases for three days.
He insisted: “Amat-amat run nagnaba ang community transmission naton, ugaring late lang ang pagsulod…i-distribute naton ang delayed reports that belonged to Day 12, Day 13 and Day 14 naton.”
Total COVID-19 cases recorded in Antique since the pandemic started in March last year reached 778 as of yesterday./PN
