THE number of Mayon Volcano evacuees who have contracted COVID-19 has increased to three, officials from the Albay provincial government said yesterday.
Eugene Escobar, chief of the research division of Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office, said the three patients are “okay” and are “not in critical condition.”
“They are under observation, they are being given medicine and medical attention by our health personnel. Their close contacts are also under observation,” Escobar said in a radio interview.
The three are from an evacuation center in Daraga town.
Ryan Bonina of the provincial health office said the third COVID-19 patient — like the second patient — is a close contact of the first who tested positive for the coronavirus disease on June 18.
Cedric Daep, chief of Albay’s Public Safety and Emergency Management Office, said health protocols should be observed at the evacuation centers to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.
“We have to be consistent with COVID protocols, health protocols so that we are not going create another disaster while solving the main disaster. This is the principle that we are trying to apply for now,” said Daep.
Some 20,000 Albay residents have been displaced and are staying in 28 evacuation centers due to the unrest of Mayon Volcano which was placed under Alert Level 3 (increased tendency towards hazardous eruption) on June 8.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), during the latest 24-hour monitoring period (5 a.m. Sunday to 5 a.m. Monday), recorded 102 volcanic earthquakes at Mayon, much higher compared to the 24 quakes monitored in the previous 24-hour period.
A total of 263 rockfall events and eight pyroclastic density current events were also recorded from Sunday morning to yesterday morning, from the previous 257 rockfall events and 16 pyroclastic density current events.
Mayon’s sulfur dioxide emission was measured at 925 tons, from the previous 663 tons, Phivolcs also said.
