The municipal hall of Sagbayan town has been placed under lockdown after one of its senior citizen employee tested positive of COVID-19.

Sagbayan Mayor Restituto Suarez has directed the temporary closure of all municipal government offices and services to pave the way for disinfection measures.

The employee who contracted the virus is a 62-year old utility worker assigned at the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office. The patient’s PCR test was released Thursday, according to Luzel Brillo, the town’s focal person for locally stranded individuals (LSI).

The COVID-19 patient is reportedly symptomatic, had difficulty breathing and was initially rushed to a hospital in Tagbilaran City for treatment.

Brillo however told dyRD Balita that as of Friday morning, the patient was released from hospital and is now being treated at the municipal isolation facility in Sagbayan.

According to Brillo, a contact-tracing revealed that there were 50 municipal employees who have been in close contact with the COVID-19 patient and all of them have been prohibited from returning to their respective homes and are now being quarantined at the municipal isolation facility, awaiting results of their PCR tests.

All transactions in frontline offices of the municipal hall have been temporarily suspended while there are still no results of PCR tests of the employees who came into close contact with said COVID-19 patient. (KB, RT)