Eastern Visayas has fewer COVD-19 cases

TACLOBAN CITY –– At least eight new cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were recorded in Eastern Visayas on Monday, bringing its total number of infections to 5,278.

According to the Department of Health (DOH), the new cases came from Leyte and Northern Samar.

While the new cases were decreasing, Dr. Minerva Molon, the regional director of the DOH, said it is too early to say that the region has flattened the curve.

Molon said the region posted 2,212 new cases in August. In September, the cases decreased to 1,607.

In the first week of October, the region had just more than 200 COVID-19 cases.

“While COVID-19 cases of the region appear to be declining, there are areas where their cases are increasing,” she said.

The regional director particularly cited the case of Calbayog City in Samar, which is showing a surge of COVID-19 cases for the past weeks now.

At present, the city has 336 cases with two deaths.

Its mayor, Ronald Aquino, placed 16 barangays with high COVID-19 cases under a hard lock.

Meantime, an isolation facility located inside the Northern Samar Provincial Hospital (NSPH) compound in Catarman town was inaugurated last Oct. 9.

The construction of the P15-million facility was donated by Tingog party-list Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez and her husband, Majority Floor Leader, Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.

The facility can accommodate 40 patients.

Dr. Joseph Estanislao, NSPH chief of hospital, said the isolation facility would be a big help in addressing the lack of space for COVID-19 patients in the province.

Northern Samar has 182 COVID-19 cases with one death.

ZB