Ormoc City records 1st COVID case

MANILA, Philippines — A returning overseas Filipino worker (OFW) is the first coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 case in Ormoc City.

The Department of Health-Eastern Visayas said the OFW, who came from Saudi Arabia, is a beneficiary of the Balik Probinsya program.

The patient, 49, flew to Tacloban City on May 27.

Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez said the OFW is in an isolation facility, where 215 probable COVID-19 patients were also quarantined.

“We are prepared and we are ready for the worst, but I’m not happy with what happened,” Gomez said.

He said the entry of infected OFWs could have been prevented if authorities from the point of origin of the returnees had coordinated with receiving local government units.

Gomez said swab tests should have been conducted prior to the return of the OFWs to the provinces.

“I wish national authorities will coordinate with us on the arrival of returnees, with the assurance that those traveling in bus or plane to the provinces are tested and found negative of the disease,” he said.

Gomez said he might reimplement strict border control to prevent the entry of those coming from areas with confirmed cases.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Eastern Visayas is now 49.

The cities of Baybay and Tacloban and Abuyog, Jaro, Tolosa, Tanauan, Burauen and Hilongos towns in Leyte; Villareal and Tarangnan in Samar, Naval in Biliran and Catarman in Northern Samar recorded their first cases only this month. The patients are returning residents and OFWs. 

Meanwhile, in Mountain Province, Besao Mayor Johnson Bantog II placed Barangays Tambaoan and Besao west on lockdown after some residents were caught not wearing face masks, loitering for leisure, violating the liquor ban and not observing the 14-day quarantine for those with symptoms or contact with infected persons.

Mayor Ching Bernos of La Paz town in Abra placed parts of Barangay Poblacion on lockdown until June 13 after a female health worker in a private hospital tested positive for the virus.

Abra was COVID-free in the past two months.