BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Health authorities detected 11 more coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections at the city hall of Kabankalan, Negros Occidental.
This prompted Mayor Pedro Zayco yesterday to extend the building’s lockdown until Wednesday to avert a massive spread of the virus.
Zayco initially ordered a three-day closure of the city hall beginning Nov. 20.
The latest cases, according to Zayco, were among the city government employees who underwent swabbing recently after having been exposed to COVID-19 cases.
Their test results were released over the weekend.
As of Nov. 22, there were 17 active COVID-19 cases at city hall and one casualty – an engineer assigned at the City Engineer’s Office.
According to Zayco, while the city hall is off limits to the public, health authorities are conducting thorough disinfection.
When offices resume on Thursday, only 50 percent of the personnel will be allowed to report to work; the other half will go on a work-from-home arrangement.
Zayco also reiterated his earlier call for a strict enforcement of the “no facemask, no face shield, no entry” policies in the city government.
As of Nov. 21, Kabankalan City had a total of 427 confirmed cases, 54 of which were active, 366 recovered and seven dead./PN
