TACLOBAN CITY –– At least 20 doctors and nurses will be deployed in the Samar Provincial Hospital (SPH) starting Thursday after many of its health workers were infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Dr. Minerva Molon, director of the Department of Health in Eastern Visayas (DOH-8), said about 130 personnel of SPH are isolated after they tested positive for the virus.
The hospital has been closed to the public except for emergency cases.
The DOH-8 earlier committed to deploying 20 nurses and doctors to the National Capital Region to augment its health personnel amid its increasing COVID-19 cases.
But Molon said they decided to deploy these doctors and nurses to SPH.
Of the 2,363 COVID-19 cases in the region, Samar province has the highest number of infections at 843 as of Wednesday.
Most of the cases in Samar were from its provincial capital of Catbalogan City.
Catbalogan City Mayor Dexter Uy and his elder sister, Councilor Stephany Uy-Tan, were among those infected with the virus.
Both are confined at the city-run isolation facility.