MANILA, Philippines – Malabon City Mayor Lenlen Oreta on Tuesday confirmed he tested positive for novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

“Nagpa swab test tayo as part of contact tracing. Today, lumabas sa resulta na positive ako sa Covid-19,” Oreta wrote on his Facebook account.

The mayor said he is asymptomatic and will be working at home in the following days.

An ongoing contact tracing is also being conducted for those he interacted with in the past few days, he said.

Oreta reminded the public to strictly observe health protocols to help prevent further transmission of COVID-19.

“This only shows na matindi pa rin ang epekto ng COVID-19 sa Malabon. Matinding pag-iingat ang kailangan lalo na ang pagsunod sa mga health protocols,” he said.

“On behalf of the city, we would continue to ensure that we bring down the cases ng COVID dito sa ating siyudad,” he added.

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) on Thursday warned the public against collecting and eating shellfish gathered from 10 coastal areas in the country due to red tide toxins.

In its Shellfish Bulletin No. 6 dated March 10, BFAR said its latest laboratory tests on shellfishes collected from several coastal waters in various parts of the Visayas and Mindanao indicated positive results for paralytic shellfish poison that is beyond the regulatory limit.

These coastal areas include:

• Coastal Waters of Inner Malampaya Sound, Taytay in Palawan
• Sorsogon Bay in Sorsogon
• Coastal Waters of Dauis and Tagbilaran City in Bohol
• Tambobo Bay, Siaton in Negros Oriental
• Coastal Waters of Calubian, and Cancato Bay, Tacloban City in Leyte
• Dumanquillas Bay in Zamboanga del Sur
• Murcielagos Bay (Sapang Dalaga and Baliangao) and Coastal Waters of Ozamiz City in Misamis Occidental
• Taguines Lagoon, Benoni, Mahinog in Camiguin
• Balite Bay, Mati City in Davao Oriental
• Lianga Bay and Coastal waters of Hinatuan in Surigao del Sur

BFAR said that all types of shellfish and Acetes sp. or alamang gathered from the areas mentioned are not safe for human consumption.

On the other hand, fish, squids, shrimps, and crabs are safe for human consumption, provided that they are fresh and washed thoroughly, and internal organs such as gills and intestines are removed before cooking, it added.

MALABON, Philippines — Malabon City targets 180,000 of its residents to get inoculated with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine.

According to the Department of Health (DOH), the vaccination program of Malabon can begin in March or April once the procured vaccines arrive in February.

Malabon procured P50 million worth of COVID-19 vaccines. The city already designated 11 vaccination sites and also targets to inoculate 1,100 individuals per day. Medical frontliners and the elderly are the main priority of the city’s vaccination program.

Malabon Mayor Antolin Oreta will also voluntarily get vaccinated to encourage his constituents to receive the vaccine. He reported that only 30% of the residents are willing to get inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine.

“We still have to convince the masses na kailangan, importante magpabakuna. Maybe set an example papabakuna din tayo (that it is necessary, important to get vaccinated. Maybe set an example, we will also get inoculated). I think that’s one aspect of it,” he said.

Oreta is also open for Malabon residents to choose the brand of the vaccine they want to receive. -AAC (with reports from Aiko Miguel)