TACLOBAN CITY –– Cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Eastern Visayas have surged past 11,000, according to the Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday.
Mayor Annaliza Gonzales-Kwan of Guiuan in Eastern Samar said she was thinking of placing the entire town under a lockdown.
“The local inter-agency task force has recommended placing the entire town of Guiuan under total lockdown, but I have yet to decide on this. However, if our cases will continue to surge, I may just declare a total lockdown,” she said.
The town, one of the commercial areas in Eastern Samar, has the highest cases of COVID-19 in the province with 191.
Gonzales-Kwan reiterated the strict observance of the protocols to avoid the spread of the virus.
In Victoria town, Northern Samar, Mayor Guillermo Jumamil, Jr., has issued an order to place the villages of Erenas and Libertad under total lockdown, as the majority of the town’s 17 new cases are from these villages.
Joey Kenneth Balase, local government operations officer, said the two-week lockdown would start on Thursday, Dec. 31.
The local government, he said, would provide food to the affected villagers.
The town mayor has also ordered placing the town’s major public beach, the Borobodyongan Beach, under total lockdown beginning Dec. 31 until Jan. 3, 2021 to prevent mass gatherings as what happened on Christmas Day.
As of Thursday, Eastern Visayas has 11,147 COVID-19 cases with 125 deaths.