Region IV-B (MIMAROPA) continues to struggle with increasing COVID-19 cases, breaching the 300th mark at 354 total confirmed cases (August 10-16).
Because of the increasing number of cases in the area, Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro returned to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) last August 13 and will remain so until August 26.
The rest of the region is under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) until August 31.
Oriental Mindoro recorded a sudden spike of positive cases on August 13 with 17 new cases recorded in a single day, prompting the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force (RIAT) to revert to MECQ. The city will undergo massive contact tracing after several members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) manning quarantine checkpoints tested positive for the virus.
The town also saw another spike in cases after ten new positive cases were recorded on August 15.
Occidental Mindoro recorded three new cases this week, the same as Marinduque. Romblon recorded only one case yesterday (August 15).
Palawan recorded a total of 23 new cases this week. The latest positive case is from Bataraza.
(With reports from Romar Miranda, Jane Tumalac, Ruth Rodriguez, and Patricia Laririt)