Bohol logs 13 new cases on Aug. 21

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – Bohol province logged 13 new cases of the coronavirus disease on Friday, August 21.

All of the province’s new cases are cases of community transmission affecting residents of island barangays in the municipalities of Talibon and Bien Unido.

Governor Arthur Yap said he received news on Friday afternoon from the Gallares Hospital Molecular Laboratory in Tagbilaran City on the addition of the 13 new cases, which increased Bohol’s active cases of the infection to 35.  A total of 29 of the active cases come from community transmission.

The province of Bohol also logged 102 recoveries and 7 COVID-related deaths.

“Ang 35 ka active cases, ma-da ra gihapon  sa atong health care system sa lalawigan apan, kinhanglan mag-pakabana ang tanan,” Yap said.

(The province’s health care system can very well manage the 35 active cases that we now have, but we all have to be concerned.)

Yap said that 11 of the province’s new cases come from Talibon town while two were from the islet of Malingin in Bien Unido town.

Of the COVID cases in Talibon, 10 of them were from Guindacpan Island while one was from San Jose.

Of the provinces 13 new cases, one patient from Guindacpan is now admitted to the Gallares Hospital after manifesting symptoms of the infection the 12 others have remained symptomatic.

Yap said that the Guindacpan and Malingin islets remain under lockdown.

“Ato na usab gi-deploy didto ang PNP Security team, Seaborne Patrol Unit ug mga personnel sa AFP aron maoy mobantay sa tibuok Isla uban sa pagsiguro nga walay bisan usa ang makasulod ug makagawas gikan sa duha ka mga Isla,”.

(The PNP security team, Seaborne patrol unit, and AFP personnel were also deployed to make sure that no one gets in or out of the two islets.)

The provincial government, Yap said, will continue to send food packs to affected residents during the duration of the lockdown.

Contact tracing teams coming from the Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of Health (DOH), Provincial Health Office (PHO), and the Rural Health Units of Talibon and Bien Unido towns continue to process of identifying the close contacts of the infected residents.

Yap said that he also met on Friday with coastal town mayors in the province’s second district to agree on the need to further intensify coastal border security.

This means that policemen will be sent to island barangays identified as “critical” while they also tapped the help of the Philippine Coast Guard in conducting patrols on the waters that separate Bohol from the neighboring provinces of Cebu and Leyte.

“We are intensifying our presence in our island baranggays to prevent the indiscriminate and unmonitored travel of people to and from the island baranggays of Bohol and Cebu,” Yap said.

“We are continuously in touch with our Mayors and monitoring the situation closely.  Let us help our province by offering our prayers to those communities affected and most of all, by following three simple instructions: wear masks, keep distance and wash hands.Daghang salamat. God save Bohol.”