TACLOBAN CITY –– A municipal councilor in Leyte province tested positive for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
In a Facebook post, Councilor Rowil Batan of Leyte-Leyte town said he might have acquired the virus when he attended a party in Alangalang town, also in Leyte.
Batan, a former provincial board member, said he and his family are currently isolated.
Leyte-Leyte Mayor Arnold James Ysidoro announced that the municipal hall had been placed under lockdown since Oct. 17 after one of its employees contracted the virus.
He, however, said that the operations of some of the municipal government offices would continue, like its health and disaster risk reduction and management offices, and those assigned in street cleaning and garbage collection.
All the employees’ nearest contacts at the municipal hall were directed to undergo swab testing.
Ysidoro appealed to the people to strictly follow all the health protocols to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The town has 38 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Monday.
With 26 new cases recorded on Sunday, Oct. 18, the regional office of the Department of Health announced that Eastern Visayas had a total of 5,817 COVID-19 cases.
The new cases were from Leyte with 24 and two each from the provinces of Samar and Northern Samar.