ILOILO – Mayor Carina Flores of Oton, Iloilo tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
She was among the new COVID-19 infections that local health authorities recorded on Dec. 26, according to Jafet Salinas, the town’s focal person on COVID-19.
Flores, asymptomatic, immediately self-isolated upon learning the results of her reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test (RT-PCR).
Aside from Mayor Flores, the viral disease also infected eight local government unit (LGU) personnel – three from the Mayor’s Office and four from the Accounting Office.
They were all asymptomatic and quarantined at the town’s isolation facility.
As part of the contact tracing measures, all family members of these COVID-19 cases were also brought to the isolation facility.
It was, however, still unclear how the mayor and the LGU employees contracted the highly-contagious disease, said Salinas.
To prevent the SARS-CoV-2 virus from spreading, the Oton municipal hall was placed on a partial lockdown beginning Dec. 26 until Jan. 3, 2021.
Salinas clarified that some offices at the municipal hall will remain open. These were the Municipal Health Office, General Services Office, Municipal Assessor’s Office, Municipal Treasurer’s Office, Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, Municipal Economic Development Office, and Business Permits and Licensing Office.
To date, the municipality of Oton has the most number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the province, data from the Provincial Health Office showed.
As of Dec. 26, the town had a total of 354 COVID-19 cases – 43 of which were active, 303 recovered and eight dead./PN
