CASES of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) continued to climb in Eastern Visayas following the 38 new cases on Saturday, September 5, bringing the total number of Covid-19 cases in the region to 3,382.
The Eastern Visayas Regional Covid-19 Testing Center (EVRCTC) released a total of 416 laboratory results, of which 391 are negative and 25 are positive for Covid-19.
The 25 new cases, tagged as patients EV-3346 to EV-3370, are from Tacloban City (6); Palo, Leyte (1); Pastrana, Leyte (3); Catbalogan City, Samar (12); Paranas, Samar (1); Allen, Northern Samar (1); and Macrohon, Southern Leyte (1).
Also, the Divine Word Hospital Virology Laboratory (DWHVL) released a total of 272 laboratory results on Saturday afternoon.
Of these, 255 are negative and 17 are positive for Covid-19, with 13 new cases and four re-swabs from Pinabacdao, Sta. Margarita and Lawaan towns.
The 13 new cases, tagged as patients EV-3371 to EV-3382, are from Tacloban City (6); Isabel, Leyte (1); Carigara, Leyte (2); Tanauan, Leyte (1); Alang-alang, Leyte (1); and Catbalogan City, Samar (2).
Most of the cases are close contacts, locally stranded individuals, healthcare workers and frontliners.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Air Force, in coordination with the Regional Task Force-Eastern Visayas, continued to assist the returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) in the region.
On Saturday afternoon, a total of 72 ROFs arrived from Manila via Philippine Airline at DZR Airport in Tacloban.
In Borongan City, the local government is set to implement a hard lockdown in Barangay Bugas and Barangay Loc-soon border checkpoints starting 12:01 a.m. of September 6, Sunday until 11:59 p.m. of September 8, Tuesday.
The hard lockdown is one of the initiatives of the City Government in line with its continuing efforts to protect Boronganons against the virus, it said.
“Only vehicles transporting essential goods and those with health/medical emergencies will be allowed to enter or exit the borders. Ordinary travel including those passing through will not be allowed to enter or exit Borongan,” the city government said in a statement.
In Catbalogan City, Mayor Dexter Uy issued an executive order on “Promulgating Localized Guidelines on the Application of Zoning Containment Strategy” in the city which took effect on September 5 to 20.
Maasin City Mayor Nacional Mercado also appealed for the continued support and cooperation of the public, saying they are “certainly exhausting all our efforts through imposing stricter measures to curb the rising cases and to manage the risk as best as we can, so we can move forward with our lives.”
“Also, we must always be reminded that Maasinhon’s exposure to Covid-19 is simply inevitable due to our proximity to areas with high numbers of positive cases and our continued strides in bringing a total of 1,228 LSIs and 242 OFWs back with their families at home,” Mercado said.
As of September 4, Maasin City has five total active cases, 31 total number of recoveries, and zero deaths.
In Barugo, Leyte, Mayor Macel Avestruz reminded her constituents not to discriminate their fully-recovered “Covid-19 warriors” who have been reintegrated in their barangays.
“We will not integrate Covid-19 patients if he/she did not yield negative in the RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) test. As long as the authorized health facilities will continue to accept our RT-PCR request, we will continue testing,” Avestruz said.
Earlier, Tacloban Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasin also expressed approval on the temporary suspension on acceptance of returning LSIs to the region.
“At least it could help minimize mobility. Hopefully, it will be enough and not too late to stem the tide of the second wave,” Yaokasin told Sunstar Philippines.
As of 5 p.m. Saturday, Eastern Visayas has 2,325 (68.75 percent) recoveries and 1,031 (30.48 percent) active cases. (SunStar Philippines)