The Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center did not allow four travelers from South Africa to travel to Bacolod and isolate in a hotel in the city.
EOC executive director Em Ang said the local government units where the travelers came from, coordinated with the Bacolod LGU for their possible quarantine in a hotel in the city that used to accommodate COVID-19 patients.
But the EOC refused the request since cases like this should immediately be isolated since they came from countries belonging to the Red List, or areas considered as high-risk for COVID, particularly with the new variant Omicron.
And said if the travelers are allowed to be transported to Bacolod, there will be more close contacts to be considered.
“Precisely the idea of quarantine para bala nga ma-isolate and ma limit, and there is infection control, so nag hambal kami nga indi na pagpabyaheon diri sa Bacolod kag i-continue nila kon sa diin naman sila nga daan naga quarantine,” she explained.
Ang said the travelers were under home quarantine and have nothing to do in the city, that is one reason why EOC refused them.
But Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said he and the employer of the travelers are planning to file complaints over the action of the Bacolod EOC.
Diaz confirmed that the three are from South Africa and arrived in the province Nov. 26 after they completed the quarantine period required by the Department of Health for those coming from other countries. They arrived in the Philippines before the travel ban was imposed on South Africa and other neighbouring countries following the discovery of Omicron, he said.
Diaz said the OFWs, who were fully vaccinated, presented negative RT-PCR results before their travel to Negros from Manila, and came home to their families in Calatrava, Manapla, and La Carlota.
On Nov. 28, the national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) issued Resolution No. 151, that orders LGUs and other concerned agencies to strengthen COVID-19 response and proactive measures, with regard to the newest variant Omicron.
Among these measures is for the Bureau of Quarantine and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, with the LGUs, “to identify and locate passengers who arrived within 14 days prior to Nov. 29, from countries classified as Red, and require them to complete quarantine under a home quarantine set-up for 14 days from date of arrival, and undergo RT-PCR if symptoms develop”.
Diaz said the province was advised by the national IATF to help the LGUs where the three are now staying.
He said they were advised to stay in a government quarantine facility or a hotel accredited for quarantine. But the management of the hotel that used to accept COVID positive patients for isolation refused to accommodate them as per the decision of the Bacolod EOC, he added.
Diaz said the three are scheduled for swabbing today, Dec. 1. — MML
