The Municipal Hall of San Miguel town has been temporarily closed starting Thursday after the mother of three of its employees tested positive for COVID-19 following her death earlier this week.

San Miguel Mayor Virgilio Mendez confirmed the shutdown of operations in an interview over station dyRD as he announced that a female 64-year-old resident of the town who had three children working for the local government unit died of pneumonia on July 22.

Her polymerase chain reaction test result was released on Wednesday but her remains were already buried immediately after her death.

“Dili ni siya LSI, dili pud ni siya OFW,” Mendez said.

Three of her children have been tested for COVID-19 but results are still being awaited.

Swab samples have also been taken from her other close contacts.

According to Mendez, they will reopen their offices if the PCR tests yield negative results.

Meanwhile, the San Miguel Police Station was locked down as one of the woman’s sons is a policeman assigned at the station.

The Bohol Provincial Police Office has assured the mayor that they will be sending cops to the town to maintain peace and order while the station remains closed.

“I was assured na duna na silay augmentation force kung naay g’yud serious problem na mo crop up niining maong incident,” he said.

There are currently 86 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the province.

Although most of these cases are locally stranded individuals, there has been a recent spike in the number of local transmission of the disease in the past two weeks.

At least 10 of the COVID-19 cases recorded in late July were residents who had no travel history. (r)