A barangay west of the city of Zamboanga was placed under total lock down following the first confirmed case of Covid-19 in this southern port , deploying police, military and other force multipliers in the area.
Mayor Maria Isabel Climaco-Salazar in a late evening press conference at City Hall Tuesday night, she announced the first confirmed case of Covid-19 in the city, and immediately placed the barangay where the patient hailed under total lockdown.
Barangay Sinunuc, a coastal barangay west of the city, were full of military, police personnel and closing almost all major exit points to the Zamboanga-Labuan national high-way.
The mayor claimed the first confirmed case in Zamboanga City was a 29 year old engineering graduate who went to Manila to review for his board exam, returned to the city last March 13, 2020 onboard a PAL early morning flight.
The patient who was asymptomatic when it submitted himself for checkup last 16 March 2020 and ordered to return to his residence in Sinunuc. Last Tuesday night, DOH team picked up the patient and brought to a designated confinement area in the city together with other members of their household who were considered persons under monitoring.
Other barangays, adjacent to the Barangay where the patient hails, has imposed a closed border and locked down with minimal movements to buying of medicines and buying basic necesities.
The local government also limit the store hours of the public market and other plea markers in the city effective immediately.