- MITCH M. LIPA
Roll-on, Roll-off passengers from Dumangas, Iloilo, and the Caticlan port in Aklan will be swabbed by personnel of the Bacolod City Health Office, Emergency Operations Center executive director Em Legaspi-Ang said.
Ang emphasized that there is a need to swab these passengers as some of them might have come from Manila through the Batangas-Oriental Mindoro route.
Manila, Batangas and other areas in Luzon, including Iloilo City and Lapu-lapu City in Cebu, are under Alert Level 3, while Aklan and Iloilo province are on Alert Level 2.
The Bacolod City government is requiring travelers from Alert Level 3 areas to present a negative RT-PRC result, an S-PaSS approval, vaccination card, and BaCTrac ID, among other documents, as mitigating measures against the spread of the coronavirus disease.
Ang, meanwhile, noted that because of the conduct of rapid antigen testing (RAT) at the Bacolod ports, the EOC was able to detect 12 out of 18 workers of one company, who travelled outside the province, who were RAT reactive when they returned home last week.
Dr. Edwin Miraflor Jr., CHO officer-in-charge, was tasked to immediately field swabbers at the Bredco and Banago ports, in coordination with the monitoring team of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.
Councilor Renecito Novero also presented updates on the state of city government-run quarantine and isolation facilities in anticipation of the post-holiday surge in COVID-19 cases, and possible Omicron variant transmission.
Novero, who met with members of the multi-agency committee, informed Mayor Evelio Leonardia that only the Antonio L. Jayme Elementary School in Mansilingan, and the Mariano G. Medalla Integrated School in Pahanocoy were occupied, as of last week.
Novero, chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Education, also said that the school heads are willing to allow their facilities to be used as additional isolation centers, in case of increase in COVID cases. | MML
