25 health workers from Samar prov’l hospital test positive for COVID-19

TACLOBAN City - At least 25 health workers have been infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Samar Provincial Hospital (SPH) in Catbalogan City.

This was confirmed by the Department of Health Region 8 (DOH 8) on Monday, August 17, as Eastern Visayas hit an all-time high number of cases with 95 fresh new cases reported.

This brought the total number of COVID-19 cases to 1,680, with 637 active cases.

The 25 new patients were close contacts of Patient EV 1557, a 30-yearold male healthcare worker in the hospital.

The management of SPH said they were currently closed for admissions, except for imminent deliveries and life-threatening emergencies, until further notice.

“This temporary closure is intended for contact tracing, quarantine of close contacts, and disinfection of the entire hospital. We did our best in our infection prevention and control but we were left with the fact that we cannot totally eliminate the risk. We are now trying our best to resume our normal hospital operation the soonest possible time,” it said.

Samar province posted the most number of cases among the six provinces with 59 new cases including the health workers.

They were from Calbayog City (3), Paranas (4), San Jorge (2), Villareal (17), Zumarraga (1), Hinabangan (2), Catbalogan (24), Daram (1), Calbiga (1), Gandara (1), Sta. Rita (2), and Tarangnan (2).

Leyte had 30 new cases from MacArthur (4), Tacloban City (10), Tanauan (9), Kananga (1), Sta. Fe (2), Inopacan (1), Dulag (1), Palo (1), and Merida (1).

Southern Leyte recorded two new cases from Maasin City and Bontoc town, while Eastern Samar also had two fresh cases from San Julian and Llorente towns. (Marie Tonette Marticio)