THE historic island town of Limasawa in Southern Leyte on Friday, August 7, 2020, recorded its first two confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) after five months of being virus-free.
Mayor Melchor Petracorta identified the first two positive cases as a 46-year-old female and a 24-year-old male, both locally stranded individuals (LSIs).
In a statement, Petracorta said the two patients are already placed in a quarantine facility while contact tracing is also underway.
While he is saddened by the incident, the mayor assured the public that they “will exhaust all our efforts and measures to keep all our people in Limasawa safe.”
Known as the site of the first Catholic mass in Asia in 1521, Limasawa Island is a sixth class municipality in the province with over 6,000 residents in six barangays.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH)-Eastern Visayas reported 64 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday evening, August 8, bringing the total number of cases in the region at 1,265 with 820 (64.82 percent) recoveries.
The majority of the new cases are LSIs, based on the results released by the Eastern Visayas Regional Covid-19 Testing Center (EVRCTC) and the Divine Word Hospital Virology Laboratory (DWHVL) in Tacloban City.
The EVRCTC released a total of 362 laboratory results, of which 321 are negative and 41 are positive for Covid-19.
In Leyte, the cases are in San Isidro (2), both LSIs; Inopacan (1), LSI; Matalom (3), all LSIs; Hilongos (3), all LSIs; Ormoc City (8), mostly LSIs; Babatngon (2), both LSIs; Bato (1), LSI; Calubian (4), all LSIs; and Mayorga (1), LSI.
In Biliran, the cases are in Naval (2), with LSI; Almeria (1), LSI; Caibiran (7), all LSIs; Culaba (2), both LSIs; and Kawayan (2), both LSIs.
Tarangnan, Samar and Guiuan, Eastern Samar each recorded one new Covid-19 case.
Also, the DWHVL released a total of 167 laboratory results, of which 134 are negative and 33 are positive for Covid-19.
The positive cases include 23 new cases and 10 re-swabs of patient EV-675 from Calubian, EV-973 and EV-780 from Tanauan, EV-579 and EV-801 from Villaba, EV-783 from Abuyog, EV-959 from Palo, and EV-759, Ev-760, EV-813 from Kananga, all in Leyte.
The 23 new cases are tagged as patients EV-1243 to EV-1265, according to the regional health department.
In Leyte, the new cases are in Matag-ob (2), both LSIs; Abuyog (1), LSI; Isabel (1), LSI; Baybay City (3), all LSIs; Palo (4); Villaba (6), all LSIs; Calubian (4), all LSIs; and Tacloban City (2), with LSI.
On July 28, 2020, a total of 662 LSIs from Manila safely arrived in Eastern Visayas through the national government's "Hatid Tulong" program. (SunStar Philippines)