Bacolod City – The Provincial Health Office of Negros Occidental is closely monitoring the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Iloilo, noting that the borders between the two provinces remains open for fast craft and roll on, roll off vessels.
The Department of Health-Western Visayas reported on July 8 that Iloilo City has 58 new COVID-19 cases and 38 in Iloilo province.
Negros Occidental has five new cases and 12 in Bacolod City, DOH-WV reports added.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Ernell Tumimbang said that they will convene once they notice a continued surging of cases in Iloilo.
Should the daily COVID-19 positive cases in Negros Occidental reach double digits, then we will assess if there is a need to close borders of Negros Occidental, especially 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 of Bacolod City, he added.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson earlier ruled out the closure of Negros Occidental borders amid surging COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila and Iloilo.
As of over-the-weekend, Lacson reported that Negros Occidental has already fully vaccinated 64 percent of the targeted population, although it has a 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 the poor performance of its vaccination program.
“If we want to join the rest to 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. (Gilbert Bayoran via tvds photo by tvds)