ILOILO City – The Chief Justice Ramon Q. Avanceña Hall of Justice on Bonifacio Drive shut down yesterday for two days of disinfection and contact tracing.
A lawyer who attended court hearings at the Hall of Justice tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
According to Judge Victorino Maniba Jr., the designated spokesperson for the four-storey Hall of Justice, the edifice will reopen Monday next week, Sept. 28.
The COVID-19-positive lawyer was a male senior citizen, according to Maniba.
There was no further information given about this COVID-19 case.
Sources told Panay News, however, that the lawyer has been taken to a hospital and being tightly monitored by doctors.
Older adults and people who have severe underlying medical conditions like heart or lung disease or diabetes seem to be at higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19 illness.
Last month, on Aug. 7, court hearings and other transactions at the Hall of Justice were also temporarily suspended. A job hire tested positive for COVID-19.
The Hall of Justice houses 18 branches of Regional Trial Court (RTC), four branches of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) of Iloilo City, the Iloilo Provincial Prosecution Offices, the Iloilo City Provincial Prosecution Offices, Office of the Regional Prosecutor, Public Attorney’s Office, and Regional Parole and Probation Offices, Offices of the Clerks of Court of RTC and MTCC, Office of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Iloilo Chapter, the Philippine Mediation Center, and RTC library.
People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness.
Symptoms may appear two to 14 days after exposure to the virus, according to the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These are fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea.
COVID-19 is spread mainly through close contact from person-to-person. Some people without symptoms may be able to spread the virus.
Transmission is possible between people who are in close contact with one another (within about six feet) and through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks.
These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs./PN
