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MANILA, November 2 (dpa): At least 16 people were killed in the Philippines when this year’s strongest typhoon caused flooding and mudflows and cut power and communication lines, authorities said Monday.
More than 420,000 people fled their homes in the eastern and northern provinces when Super Typhoon Goni hit the main island of Luzon over the weekend with catastrophic winds and torrential rains.
The deaths were recorded in the worst affected provinces of Catanduanes and Albay in the eastern Bicol region, according to the Civil Defense Office.
Three people were also reported missing in the Albay town of Guinobatan, where more than 100 houses were buried by mudflows, according to provincial governor Al Francis Bichara.
Bichara said the mudflows came from volcanic deposits on the slopes of Mayon volcano, which were loosened by heavy rains.
In Catanduanes, where Goni made landfall for the first time on Sunday, 90 percent of the infrastructure was reported to have been damaged according to an initial assessment, said Cesar Binag, director of the regional police.
Goni, weakened, was expected to leave the Philippines on Tuesday, the meteorological office said.
It was carrying maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour (km / h) and gusts of up to 80 km / h as it moved west over the South China Sea, the bureau added.
Goni was the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines since Typhoon Haiyan struck the eastern and central provinces in November 2013, killing more than 6,300 people and displacing more than 4 million.
Xinhua, reported that according to the Civil Defense Office (OCD), Typhoon Goni has forced more than 345,000 displaced persons to remain in government evacuation centers.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) reported 2,298 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection on Monday, bringing the total number to 385,400.
The DOH said 87 more patients recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 348,830. The death toll rose to 7,269 after 32 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said.
The Philippines saw a downward trend in COVID-19 cases, a DOH spokesperson said at an online press conference on Monday, adding that the number of Covid-19 cases in the past two weeks was 25 per cent. one hundred less than the registered three to four. weeks ago.
Citing the DOH date, Undersecretary of Health María Rosario Vergeire said that cases averaged 2,517 per day three to four weeks ago, while in the last two weeks the average had dropped to 1,887.
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