TACLOBAN CITY – Fifty seven fresh cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were reported in Eastern Visayas on Saturday, bringing the region’s total number of infections to 1,201.
San Juanico Bridge connecting Samar and Leyte provinces in Eastern Visayas. FILE PHOTO
Of the new cases, 19 were reported and recorded in Barangay Villa Aurora in Basey, Samar, the Department of Health in Eastern Visayas (DOH-8) said.
John Paul Roca, information officer of the DOH-Eastern Visayas, said there has been a local transmission of the virus in the village.
He said the 19 new cases in the village were “direct contacts” of the two previous cases involving a 77-year-old man and his 37-year-old daughter.
The youngest of the 57 new patients is a five-year-old boy while the oldest is a 75-year-old woman, the wife of the 77-year-old man.
Basey Mayor Luz Ponferrada said she immediately ordered a lockdown in Villa Aurora, a village of more than 1,000 people.
Contact tracing is being conducted to ensure the virus would not infect other residents.
Meanwhile, the historic town of Limasawa in Southern Leyte also reported its first two COVID-19 cases involving local stranded individuals (LSIs).
Both were confined at the town’ s isolation facility.
“The local government unit will exhaust all efforts and measures to Keep Limasawanons safe,” the local government unit said.