Negros Occidental and the city of Bacolod will be placed under four-day total lockdown on August 28-31, 2020 for mass testing of symptomatic persons.
Both Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Mayor Evelio Leonardia are set to issue executive orders for the 4-day total lockdown.
Dubbed as “Timeout weekend”, the move is directed at containing the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19.
The idea was proposed by former congressman Alfredo Benitez, economic consultant of the province, in a press conference with Lacson and Leonardia during the weekend.
Benitez said mass testing is a way of catching up with the upsurge COVID-19 cases.
He said nobody will be allowed to go out during the time-out weekend.
“This is an appeal to all cooperate so that we can curb the virus,” Benitez said.
He added the people that will be tested are those having symptoms, which will be the basis of contract tracing.
He said the laboratory will test around 10,000 persons.
Benitez also emphasized that it will be a province-wide approach including the city of Bacolod “because the virus knows no territorial boundaries.”
A Special Task Force will be created to facilitate the mass testing of 10,000 symptomatic patients and their close contacts in the cities of Bacolod, Silay, Talisay, and Bago, and the municipality of Murcia for four days.
RT-PCR tests are scheduled on August 28-29 in Bacolod with an estimated 5,000 persons.
The remaining 5,000 patients will be in the cities of Silay, Talisay, and Bago. The town of Murcia will have the swab tests on August 30-31.
All 5 molecular bio-laboratories in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental will be used to speed up the processing of the 10,000 swab specimens so that the results can be released in 24 hours, Benitez said.
(Dolly Yasa via The Daily Guardian (TDG))
(Photo courtesy of Richard Malihan/Capitol PIO photo)
