Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 2) – Zamboanga City reported 29 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Saturday, hiking the infected toll in the city at 59.
The Zamboanga City local government received early tonight the lab tests, conducted by St. Luke’s Medical Center, of the two jail personnel and 27 inmates of the city’s reformatory center who tested positive of the virus.
The additional 29 infections in Zamboanga City are part of the batch of specimens sent to St. Luke’s on April 27 and 30.
In an exclusive interview with CNN Philippines on Friday, Zamboanga City Mayor Beng Climaco bared they partnered with private hospitals in the country for the medical care of COVID-19 patients in the city and for providing them testing capacity similar to Metro Manila.
The city government is now taking steps to address the COVID-19 outbreak in the reformatory center and to facilitate the transfer of the women dormitory to avoid contamination of older inmates and those with underlying medical conditions.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said earlier today the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases approved the request of the Zamboanga City LGU to extend the enhanced community quarantine in the city, due to the spike in COVID-19 cases.
As of the latest tally by the Department of Health, the country now has confirmed 8,928 COVID-19 cases, along with 603 deaths and 1,124 recoveries.
