The municipal hall of Bilar town was put on lockdown for three days beginning Monday after several employees were exposed to a colleague who tested positive for COVID-19, according to a town official.

Dr. Evangeline Delfin, the town’s municipal health officer, said their focal person for locally stranded individuals (LSI) tested positive for the disease on Friday last week.

Contact-tracing operations were immediately launched while employees of the municipal government including those in the Office of the Mayor were tested and quarantined.

Delfin noted that the COVID-stricken employee may have contracted the disease during a meeting in Tagbilaran City over a week ago in which one of the attendees was earlier confirmed to have been infected.

“Kami, gikan sa iyang pag meeting sa March 11, ga-meeting pud mi sa members sa IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) pagka 12 sa hapon, hing report siya sa unsa ilang gi-meetingan,” she said.

So far, first-generation contacts whose results have already been released, including Delfin, tested negative for COVID-19.

Test results of those from the mayor’s office however have yet to be released.

As of Monday morning, there were 12 active COVID-19 cases in Bohol based on data released by the Provincial Health Office.

Nine were returning residents while the other three were locals who had no travel history. (A. Doydora)