TACLOBAN CITY –– At least six persons tested positive of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Eastern Visayas, bringing the total number of cases in the region to 13.
In a virtual press conference, Dr. Minerva Molon, the director of the Department of Health in Eastern Visayas (DOH-8), said the additional cases were all from the town of Tarangan in Samar province.
Molon said four of the new COVID-19 patients were close contacts of a 60-year-old woman who works as a kitchen aide at the community hospital in Tarangan, about 129 km away from Tacloban City.
Two of her co-workers––a 27-year-old male nurse and a 30-year-old man utility worker––were also infected by the virus.
Earlier, three other personnel of the health facility, a doctor, a nurse, and an administrative staff, also acquired the virus.
However, the three were already discharged. Only the 60-year-old woman was still confined at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) based in this city.
Molon said five of the new cases are now confined at the community hospital as they appear to be asymptomatic, while the other one, a 72-year-old woman, was brought to the EVRMC.
“There is now a spread of the virus which we can now label as community transmission,” she said.
Meanwhile, Tarangan Mayor Arnel Tan, in a Facebook post, said he would place the town under “lockdown.”
“Please God, stop this,” said the town mayor who invoked heaven’s help to stop the spread of the virus.
Tarangan has more than 25,000 inhabitants.