Two evacuees in Agoncillo town in Batangas were isolated after they tested positive for antigen, according to the city mayor, Thursday.
The two have already undergone an RT-PCR test to determine if they have COVID-19, but their results have not yet come out, said Daniel Reyes, mayor of Agoncillo.
“‘Yung isa po maayos naman ang kalagayan. ‘Yung isa po buntis pero nasa maayos naman ding kalagayan,” he said.
The Department of Health has promised to drop an additional vaccine against COVID-19 in Agoncillo to vaccinate other residents who had to evacuate due to the threat of the Taal volcano eruption.
Of the 1,300 evacuees in Agoncillo, 360 have already been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to Reyes.
About 700 evacuees are children, so they cannot be vaccinated yet, the mayor said.
The town of Agoncillo has 42,000 residents, and if the Taal volcano erupts, they will be evacuated to Batangas City, Balayan, San Luis, and Calatagan.
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2 evacuees in Agoncillo, Batangas suspected of having COVID-19
Meanwhile, in the past 24-hour period, the Taal Volcano Network recorded seventeen (17) volcanic earthquakes, including sixteen (16) volcanic tremor events having durations of one (1) to thirty-six (36) minutes, one (1) low frequency volcanic earthquake, and low-level background tremor that has persisted since 07 July 2021.
High levels of volcanic sulfur dioxide or SO2 gas emissions and steam-rich plumes that rose one thousand eight hundred (1,800) meters before drifting southwest were generated from the Taal Main Crater. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission averaged 3,755 tonnes/day on 14 July 2021.
Based on ground deformation parameters from electronic tilt, continuous GPS, and InSAR monitoring, Taal Volcano Island has begun deflating in April 2021 while the Taal region continues to undergo very slow extension since 2020.
Alert Level 3 (Magmatic Unrest) now prevails over Taal Volcano. At Alert Level 3, magma extruding from the Main Crater could drive explosive eruption.
The public is reminded that the entire Taal Volcano Island is a Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ), and entry into the island as well as into the high-risk barangays of Agoncillo and Laurel must be prohibited due to the hazards of pyroclastic density currents and volcanic tsunami should strong eruptions occur.
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