MANILA (UPDATE) – Sorsogon is implementing physical distancing among families moved to evacuation centers, as Typhoon Ambo threatens the province with violent winds and intense rains, Gov. Chiz Escudero said Thursday.

Speaking to Teleradyo, Escudero noted that physical distancing was hard to maintain in crammed spaces.

“Ang aming social distancing ay naka-base sa kada pamilya . . . Kung hindi, hindi sapat ang evacuation centers maski ano'ng lokal na pamahalaan,” he said.

(Our social distancing is based per family because, if not, our evacuation centers are not enough, even in other local governments.)

The governor earlier said the province has been COVID-19 free for the past 56 days. But he posted on Twitter past 8 p.m. that the province had logged its first case of the illness.

The province’s first COVID-19 case is a seafarer who came from Miami.

While Sorsogon has been relatively safe from the disease, Escudero earlier said officials would still strictly implement the mandatory wearing of masks and sanitation measures at evacuation centers.

Escudero had already ordered local government units (LGUs) to undertake preemptive forced evacuation of residents in areas prone to flooding and landslides.

As of 5 p.m. Thursday, Sorsogon remained under tropical cyclone wind Signal No. 3. It could experience heavy to intense rains and winds of greater than 121 kilometers per hour up to 170 kph in at least 18 hours.

State weather bureau PAGASA also warned that Sorsogon and other provinces could experience “potentially life-threatening” storm surges of 2 to 4 meters.

Ambo was last spotted in the vicinity of San Jose De Buan, Samar following its landfall there. It has maximum sustained winds of 155 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 255 kph.

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