Northern Samar mayor dies of COVID-19

TACLOBAN CITY , Philippines — Mayor Manuel Aoyang of Palapag, Northern Samar died yesterday due to complications of the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19. He was 66.

Aoyang, who was confined in a hospital on Oct. 27, tested positive for the virus on Oct. 29.

Provincial government spokesman John Allen Berbon said the mayor had been undergoing dialysis even before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

Aoyang was the 68th COVID-19 fatality in Eastern Visayas.

The Northern Samar provincial health office said Palapag recorded 30 active cases.

The province logged 822 cases, 399 of them active.

The Department of  Health said Eastern Visayas has 7,147 confirmed cases, 629 of them active.

In Negros Occidental, a police officer died of COVID-19 on Tuesday.

Lt. Wilma Silva, provincial police deputy public information officer, said the PNP personnel is the first among 36 police officers in the province who contracted the virus.

Meanwhile, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Ilocos regional office in San Fernando, La Union was closed for disinfection after one of the employees was infected.

No active case

In Pangasinan, 13 towns recorded no active case yesterday.

These are Anda, Balungao, Bautista, Burgos, Dasol, Infanta, Natividad, San Nicolas, San Quintin, Sto. Tomas, Umingan, Urbiztondo and Bani. – Eva Visperas, Gilbert Bayoran