The Provincial Health Office of Negros Occidental is closely monitoring the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Iloilo, noting that the border is open to fastcrafts and roll-on roll off (RoRo) sea vessels serving the two provinces and highly-urbanized cities of Bacolod and Iloilo.
Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Ernell Tumimbang, said Friday that once they will notice a continued surging of cases in Iloilo, the matter will be immediately up for discussion.
Should the daily COVID-19 positive cases in Negros Occidental doubled in digits, and the origin will be determined, then, we will assess if there is a need to close the borders of Negros Occidental, especially those in areas where cases are increasing, Tumimbang said.
Unvaccinated travelers entering the Bacolod–Silay airport are being subjected to rapid antigen testing, while the city government is taking charge of the ports in Bacolod City, he added.
The Department of Health-Western Visayas reported that Iloilo City has 58 new COVID-19 cases, and 38 in Iloilo province, on July 8.
Negros Occidental has five new cases, and 12 in Bacolod City, the DOH-WV reports added.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson earlier ruled out the closure of Negros Occidental borders, amid a surging of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila and Iloilo.
As of July 8, Lacson reported that Negros Occidental has already fully vaccinated 64 percent of the targeted population, but with very low output in the inoculation of senior citizens.
He said that Negros Occidental remains under Alert Level 2, not because of the existing active COVID-19 cases, but because of poor performance in its vaccination program.
“If we want to join the rest under Alert Level 1, we need to do our share and the LGUs that are not doing well must find a way to convince certain sectors in their community who remain ‘hard-headed’ to get vaccinated,” Lacson said./GB
