COVID UPDATE
August 12, 2020
August 12, 2020
The Department of Health Eastern Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH EVCHD) announced tonight, August 12, 2020, one (1) new COVID case in Northern Samar.
The latest confirmed case is from the town of Gamay, a 24-year old locally stranded individual (LSI) from Paranaque City. He arrived in the province on July 29, 2020 and was immediately isolated at the Ligtas COVID Center of the municipality. Although asymptomatic, he is a close contact of EV-1114, also from Gamay hence subjected to RT-PCR test for confirmation and swabbed on August 11, 2020. He remains isolated up to this day.
The latest case brings the total number of confirmed cases of the province to 47. Out of this number, 30 cases (63.8%) have already recovered while 17 (36.2%) are active.
Five (5) months since its fight against the spread of COVID-19, Northern Samar remains without local transmission, and second among provinces in the region with the least cases of COVID-19, according to the DOH EVCHD in its virtual presser earlier today.
Based on the DOH EVCHD data, the province of Leyte comprises about half of the total number of cases in Region 8 at 45%, seconded by Samar and third, Southern Leyte. Tacloban and Ormoc City followed with 5.8% cases and Biliran Province with 4.4%.
Meanwhile, Northern Samar has recorded 3.7% out of the total number of cases in the region, next to Eastern Samar which has the lowest confirmed cases among all provinces in Eastern Visayas, with only 1.25%.
In the list of areas released by DOH 8 with local transmission, Northern Samar is not included. But this should not make us complacent.
As the threat of COVID-19 continues, the provincial government strongly calls on the public to observe health standards, cooperate and strictly follow quarantine protocols to help prevent local transmission of the disease.
--Northern Samar PIO