TACLOBAN CITY –– More than half of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Eastern Visayas involves locally stranded individuals (LSIs).
The records of the regional office of the Department of Health (DOH), show that 338 of the 547 cases were LSIs.
Of the 15 new cases, 14 were LSIs who returned to their respective hometowns in the region.
The Department of Interior and Local Government recently suspended the return of the LSIs to the region due to the rising number of its COVID-19 cases.
The towns of Villaba in Leyte province; Pintuyan and Silago in Southern Leyte registered their first COVID-19 cases involving LSIs.
The infected LSIs came from Metro Manila, Cebu, and Bohol.
Leyte has the highest number of LSIs with COVID-19 with 206, followed by Samar (63), Southern Leyte, (49), Northern Samar (13), and Biliran (7).
At least 48 returning overseas workers in the region were also infected with the dreaded virus while 158 persons acquired COVID-19 through local transmission.