Apayao, Philippines – Apayao has commenced implementation of its five-day Aggressive Community Testing (ACT) for 7,000 individuals, starting this August 24 in 11 barangays of Sta. Marcela and five barangays of Flora to contain the surge of Covid-19 virus in the province.
The Covid-19 classification of the province is now at Alert Level 4.
The mass testing is also a measure done as three cases of the more transmissible Delta variant were recently detected in the province, particularly in the municipality of Pudtol.
The decision to implement the said mass testing came after Apayao was declared at Alert Level 4 by the Department of Health due to its increasing number of cases.
Number of individuals to be tested per barangay
With this, 1,000 individuals are targeted for the activity at Barangays Barocboc, Consuelo, Marcela, Panay, San Antonio, San Mariano, San Carlos, Imelda, Malekkeg, Sipa and Emiliana in Sta. Marcela, and 1,000 at Barangays Malayugan, Bagutong, Poblacion East, Poblacion West and San Jose in Flora today.
The next schedules are 1,500 individuals from Calanasan on August 25, 750 each from Conner and Kabugao on August 26, 1,000 from Luna on August 27, and 1,420 from Pudtol on August 28.
The mass testing through the Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) process is made possible by the National Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease (NIATF - EID).
A team from the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) is tasked to do the job after Governor Eleanor C. Bulut-Begtang requested help, which was approved by the Cordillera Regional IATF and Office of Civil Defense- CAR.
Alongside the team from BCDA, personnel from Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Region 2, NCR and Kalinga, Department of Health (DOH), and the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) are providing assistance for the simultaneous specimen collection.
As recalled, target barangays for the activity were placed under total lockdown two days prior to the mass testing. The lockdown, according to the Apayao Provincial Information Office, shall end when the results of the testing will come out with better data.
As of August 23, Apayao has a record of 832 active Covid-19 cases, the highest in the Cordillera region.
.png)
