The Tacloban city hall. (PNA file photo)

TACLOBAN CITY – The city government here declared on Thursday a suspension of classes in all levels from March 13 to 20 as a precautionary measure against 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

The closure of campuses affecting thousands of students may be extended depending on the situation, Mayor Alfred Romualdez said in a press briefing at the city hall.

The mayor issued Executive Order Executive Order No. 2020-03-014 as an “appropriate response and measure to curtail and eliminate Covid-19.”

“I believe that school authorities are doing their best to protect the children, but what worries us is that these children are exposed to the virus since they take public utility vehicles. The problem with the virus is that it is novel and no medicines yet to treat this,” Romualdez told reporters.

He urged college students to go back to their home provinces and stay indoors during the week-long class suspension.

The city health office reported that a school teacher is under quarantine at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center after manifesting symptoms similar to coronavirus on Wednesday.

The patient is the wife of an overseas Filipino worker who just returned to Europe after a two-week vacation in the city.

The city government is still waiting for the test result from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine. (PNA)