TACLOBAN CITY – The local government of Tarangnan, Samar has suspended the release of the emergency cash subsidy for poor families due to the threat of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
“We are not done yet with the distribution. We suspended all the transactions and activities that involve a number of people because of the risk of contracting and spreading the virus,” Mayor Arnel Tan told reporters on Friday.
The local government has initially disbursed around PHP5 million from its PHP21-million allocation for the social amelioration program under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Tan said they cannot do the payout while under lockdown due to lack of personnel, as most of them are on home isolation after being in contact with Covid-19 patients from the town’s community hospital.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have data as to the number of families who have received their PHP5,000 cash assistance, but we already have coordinated and requested the DSWD for the extension of payout,” Tan said.
The town was placed under total lockdown on April 27, hours after the Department of Health (DOH) announced six more confirmed Covid-19 cases, bringing their total cases to nine.
The DOH also confirmed the community transmission in Tarangnan as the new cases were all close contacts of the town’s third Covid-19 patient.
To date, four infected persons with mild symptoms are isolated at the town community hospital, while those patients with co-morbidities and more vulnerable are confined at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center here.
A total of 13 cases have been confirmed in Eastern Visayas, of whom two have fully recovered with zero death.
Other areas in the region with confirmed cases are Burauen in Leyte, Calbayog City in Samar, and Catarman in Northern Samar. (PNA)
