Eastern Visayas has 19 new COVID-19 patients

TACLOBAN CITY –– Eastern Visayas has recorded 19 new cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the highest number of cases reported in the region in a single day.

As of June 10, Eastern Visayas has 72 COVID-19 cases.

Of the 19 new cases, six each were from Baybay City in Leyte and San Isidro in Northern Samar; five in Ormoc City; and one each from the towns of Pastrana and Calubian, both in Leyte.

Of these areas, San Isidro, Pastrana, and Calubian posted their first cases of COVID-19. Baybay City has eight cases, while Ormoc has six.

All of these patients were returnees to their respective places under the national government’s “Balik Probinsya” program.

San Isidro Mayor Ferdinand Avila, in a phone interview, said all six individuals, who were infected with COVID-19 were placed at the government’s isolation center in Barangay Mabuhay.

“I have already placed the entire barangay of Mabuhay under lockdown to ensure that the virus would not spread and for purposes of contact tracing. The patients were all asymptomatic,” he said.

Avila said the six patients were with 19 construction workers, who returned to San Isidro on May 28. They were stranded in Metro Manila after the metropolis was placed under lockdown last March.

The swab results of these construction workers were released on June 9.

Avila said the local government would provide food assistance to the more than 800 residents of Mabuhay, located just outside the town center.

He admitted that the people of San Isidro, with a population of more than 27,000, panicked when they learned about the COVID-19 cases in their town.

But Avila assured them that the COVID-19 patients could not infect others as they were already isolated.

“I have also requested the Regional and Provincial Inter-Agency Task Force to place our town under general community quarantine and enhanced community quarantine for Mabuhay,” the town mayor said.