Biliran, Samar towns get first COVID-19 cases from patients who’ve been to NCR

TACLOBAN CITY—The town of Naval, Biliran province was put on a 24-hour lockdown starting 2 p.m. on Wednesday (June 3) as it reported its first COVID-19 case.

Naval Mayor Gerald Roger Espina said the lockdown would allow health workers to hunt persons who may have had contact with the infected resident.

The mayor said there was no need for residents to panic as the infected persons is now in isolation together with enforcers encountered by the patient at a checkpoint.

“We are on top of the situation,” said the mayor.

All business establishments across the town were closed while contact tracing was ongoing to keep people in place.

The Department of Health in Eastern Visayas (DOH) on Wednesday reported that Naval’s first COVID-19 patient was a 19-year old man who tested positive for SARS Cov2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The patient was a student who traveled from Baguio City to Manila on May 9 and was isolated in a quarantine facility in Manila for 14 days.

The patient traveled back to Eastern Visayas with six other companions in a private vehicle on May 25.

He stayed overnight in Tacloban City before he left for Naval on May 27 on board a public utility van.

Aside from Naval, the town of Villareal, Samar province also reported its first COVID-19 case.

The Samar town’s first COVID-19 patient was a 43-year-old man from Manila who returned to Villareal in a private car on May 29.

Results of tests made on the Naval and Villareal patients were part of 278 released by the Eastern Visayas Regional COVID-19 Testing Center on Wednesday.

The DOH said both patients haven’t shown symptoms yet.

Edited by TSB