Another Negros Occidental town mayor tests positive for COVID-19
BACOLOD City - Another government official in Negros Occidental was infected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Pontevedra town Mayor Jose Maria Alonso was the second local chief executive in the province, who was infected by the virus, after E.B. Magalona town Mayor Marvin Malacon, who has already recovered from the disease.
The mayor said he was asymptomatic, and was not feeling any ailments associated with COVID-19.
On Wednesday, Alonso and nine members of his household underwent reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests, after his wife, who had fever on Tuesday, tested positive for COVID-19.
Alonso said they did not know how his wife got infected with the virus, as she rarely went out of the house.
She only went out last week when she accompanied her 89-year-old mother for an RT-PCR test and x-ray at a private hospital here, he said. His mother-in- law tested negative for the virus, he added.
He said they were already conducting contact tracing. He also put on lockdown the Mayor's Office, Budget Office and Treasurer's Office since Thursday, and some employees will also undergo swab tests.
Meanwhile, fourth district Board Member Jose Benito Alonso, twin brother of the mayor, said he will also submit himself for a swab test because he was with him last Sunday.
Currently, the province has a total of 2,644 confirmed COVID cases, and 36 deaths.