The Sibulan municipal hall in Sibulan, Negros Oriental. (PNA file photo courtesy of Sibulan LGU)
DUMAGUETE CITY – The local government unit (LGU) of Sibulan, Negros Oriental has locked down effective Monday its municipal hall and rural health unit (RHU) after a councilor and an employee tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Indira Requiron Puspus, spokesperson for the town’s Covid-19 Incident Command System, in an interview Monday morning, said the lockdown will remain indefinite until contact tracing has been completed.
She said massive disinfection will be carried out at the town hall and the RHU office/building during the lockdown in anticipation of the influx of people coming to renew or apply for new business permits at the start of the year.
Puspus said the councilor’s positive swab test result was released Sunday evening, prompting Mayor Jose Abiera and other officials to immediately undertake the necessary precautionary measures.
The mayor did not have any direct contact with the councilor, but was exposed to one of the legislative staff who was present during the town council’s deliberations, she said.
The legislator attended a special session on Dec. 28 at the municipal session hall for the deliberation and approval of the LGU's budget for 2021, she said.
“We need to undertake massive identification of the direct and indirect contacts of the councilor and the other LGU employee,” she said in the dialect.
The wife of the Sibulan official, who is a provincial government employee, was the first to test positive for the coronavirus in late December, she added.
Puspus said the RHU had to be locked down as well because one of its nurses is the couple’s daughter who was exposed to both, although her swab result is pending.
The police and other similarly-natured emergency and rescue services are on stand-by while the Sibulan LGU has coordinated with the provincial government for the possible deployment of health workers while the RHU staff are under quarantine, she added. (PNA)
