BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – Capitol, the seat of the provincial government, locked down today as the COVID19 creeps closer to power centers and even the community Press.
“This is part of measures to keep the public safe,” lawyer Rayfrando Diaz told DNX.
Diaz, the provincial administrator, said Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson gave the shutdown order early morning today, 12 August 2020.
Along with the shutdown, Diaz said decontamination measures will also be undertaken inside the Capitol after three of its employees were “compromised” or tested positive for COVID.
One is assigned to the provincial council, another with the Bids and Awards Committee and the third is an administrative staff of the Teresita Jalandoni Memorial Provincial Hospital in Sila City.
No other details were made available.
The Capitol lockdown came days after Mayor Evelio Leonardia also ordered a shutdown for disinfection of the Government Center until Sunday after an employee of the land tax division died, the second fatality from that unit in only a week.
The local press was not spared here as two broadcast journalists, a female personality from television and a male reporter from radio, also tested positive.
Both are now quarantined.
Diaz said Capitol officials will also conduct a risk assessment following the series of COVID infections involving its employees.
