COVID-19 CHECK. Repatriated overseas Filipino workers undergo thermal scanning upon arrival at the Tacloban City airport early Thursday (July 16, 2020). The Department of Health reported late Wednesday that three more residents of Eastern Visayas have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the region’s total to 656. (Photo courtesy of Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines 8)
TACLOBAN CITY – Three more residents of Eastern Visayas have tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), bringing the region’s total to 656, the Department of Health (DOH) reported late Wednesday.
Two were from Calbiga town in Samar, both locally stranded individuals (LSI) who came from Manila, and one new case in Tacloban, with no history of travel but with possible exposure to a positive patient, DOH 8 (Eastern Visayas) Director Minerva Molon said in a press statement.
“As per initial investigation, the new case in Tacloban is a possible local transmission since there is no established travel history,” Molon said.
They are part of the 166 swab test results from the region’s two Covid-19 testing laboratories here, of which six turned positive, including the repeat test of three patients from Leyte.
The newly reported cases will be tagged as the region’s Patient Nos. 654 to 656, she said.
“The two patients in Calbiga are confined in their respective local isolation facilities but will be transferred to a higher health care facility if further management is needed. Meanwhile, the new case in Tacloban is a post-partum patient admitted at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center,” Molon said.
The regional health office here attributed the surge in infections since the start of June to the testing of returning residents, including overseas Filipino workers and LSIs, mostly from Metro Manila and Cebu.
Based on the DOH monitoring report, out of 656 cases, 433 were LSIs, 52 were OFWs, three were “Balik Probinsya, Balik Pag-asa” beneficiaries, while the remaining 168 were local cases.
Despite the significant increase, Molon said the region maintained a high recovery rate as 93 percent, or 610, of the total number of confirmed infections have recovered from the disease.
“More than 90 percent of our patients are asymptomatic and only three are severe cases. These are the three deaths in Leyte, Biliran, and Samar,” she said.
Molon also noted that community transmission has so far been prevented as local government units immediately isolate the returnees upon their arrival.
To date, the region has 43 active cases housed in isolation and quarantine facilities. (PNA)
