LEGAZPI CITY –– The Legazpi City Hospital (LCH) was placed on lockdown on Thursday after one of the employees in the administrative department tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the City Interagency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID) announced on Friday.
City Mayor Noel Rosal, City IATF-EID chair, said he ordered the temporary lockdown of the city-run hospital in Barangay Bitano to maximize the implementation of the COVID-19 risk management measure.
Rosal, in a phone interview, said the lockdown would give enough time for the proper discharge of patients and the disinfection of the entire building and its premises.
He said that of the 16 patients confined at the hospital, 13 had been discharged. Only three remained in the hospital.
As a precaution, the 120 hospital employees would undergo COVID-19 swab tests and contact tracing.
The hospital operation would resume once the testing, contact tracing, and disinfection procedures are completed, he said.