BAGUIO CITY — The local government here — through its City Health Services Office — is appealing to the residents to boil first their drinking water and use treated water for cooking after 10 of the 147 tested water samples were found positive for Escherichia coli or E. Coli bacteria.

CHSO acting chief Dr. Celia Flor Brillantes said that boiling is the safest purification technique as the local government race against time to halt the gastroenteritis outbreak was declared in the city last week.

She added that people should let the water boil for at least three minutes to ensure that all impurities will be removed or killed.

To recall, a gastroenteritis outbreak was declared over Baguio City last 10 January 2024 after cases rose to more than 1,600 as of 3 p.m. Wednesday last week and as of Sunday, more than 3,000 individuals have been recorded to have suffered from the illness based on a self-reporting app of the local government.

Citing latest data, Brillantes said at least nine percent of the victims are tourists who came to the city during the holidays, at least 10 percent are residents of neighboring towns — La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba and Tublay, while the bulk are city residents.