The Bohol Capitol in Tagbilaran City will be closed today for disinfection after six employees working at the province’s seat of power were confirmed to have contracted COVID-19.

In a memorandum, Provincial Administrator Kathyrin Pioquinto as authorized by Governor Art Yap said that the Provincial General Services Office will carry out the disinfection as part of the provincial government’s “aggressive efforts of curtailing the spread of COVID-19 virus especially in our workstations.”

According to Pioquinto, employees have been directed to work from home to prevent exposure to the chemicals used for the thorough disinfection of all offices inside the Capitol.

The disinfection was ordered as advised by Dr. Ellanyl Salada, an infectious diseases expert.

Regular operations at the Capitol will resume on Monday next week.

It was earlier announced by Dr. Yul Lopez, the Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force spokesperson, that four employees of the Provincial Health Office which is headquartered at the Capitol [link] tested positive for COVID-19.

Two others including a member of Rep. Edgar Chatto’s staff and a communications officer of the provincial government were also confirmed to have contracted the disease.

Bohol has had a steady low number of active COVID-19 cases in the past month even dropping to a single digit for the first time since mid-June, last year.

However, a slight increase was recorded in the past two days as active infections of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 which is a respiratory disease, rose to 24 as of Thursday afternoon.