The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) is verifying reports of Covid-19 infections involving evacuees in Sorsogon in the aftermath of the phreatic eruption of Bulusan Volcano earlier this month.
NDRRMC Spokesperson Mark Timbal said Saturday, June 18, that the Council has yet to receive an official report from the provincial health unit of Sorsogon about the Covid-19 cases found among the evacuees.
“When it comes to Covid monitoring, we’re still waiting if there really are who exhibited symptoms in the area. But we have an automatic arrangement that if someone has symptoms, they will be isolated as well as all of their contacts,” Timbal said in a Laging Handa press briefing.
“They will be checked to ensure that the disease will be contained,” he assured.
Reports said that at least two evacuees in Juban, Sorsogon tested positive for Covid-19 after they exhibited symptoms while temporarily staying at the Juban Evacuation Center in Barangay Tughan.
The first reported patient is a 45-year-old woman who was immediately isolated at the Sorsogon Provincial Hospital while the second one is her 82-year-old father whose RT PCR test yielded positive results on Friday.
Aside from the two reported cases, at least 244 individuals from 73 families were also being monitored by the provincial health office for possible symptoms.
Timbal said “many” residents in Juban have already been vaccinated against Covid-19 as he tried to allay fears that a potential outbreak might spread to other towns in Sorsogon.
“So we are hoping that the local government unit will be able to control the incident immediately,” he said.
Bulusan Volcano had a series of phreatic eruptions on June 5 and June 12 which affected around 44,000 individuals.
Around 1,000 residents had to evacuate due to heavy ashfall but as of June 14, a total of 602 evacuees have already decamped and went back to their houses.