The Negros Occidental provincial government has suspended the entry of its own residents coming from the neighboring province of Cebu, whose capital city has the highest coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the country.
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said that for now, all quarantine facilities are full and the province wants to avoid more positive cases coming from Cebu.
“Last night, I instructed to stop receiving (people) from Tabuelan because of the sheer number of positive cases coming from Cebu. We also know that DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) has already issued a travel ban going to and coming from Cebu City,” Lacson said in a press conference held at the Capitol Social Hall here on Wednesday.
The governor also said that he has appealed to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to also include the whole Cebu province in the travel ban.
“Not only that our quarantine facilities are overwhelmed, as much as possible we don’t like to be receiving positive cases, and it’s very clear that the epicenter right now is in Cebu,” he added.
The last batch of Negrenses stranded in Cebu arrived on June 18. Some 213 of them traveled aboard four vessels from Tabuelan town to Escalante City.
Records of the provincial government as of Wednesday showed that since June 16, 33 positive cases in Negros Occidental are all locally stranded individuals (LSIs) from Cebu.
These 33 are part of the total 68 Covid-19 patients in the province.
Lacson said the decision to resume the travel of Negrenses from Cebu will still depend on the availability of rooms in the patient care centers.
“This time, the local government units are saying they are full and have asked if we can control the numbers. That’s why I instructed to stop first. We’ll wait for vacancies,” he added.
In Executive Order 20-26 issued on June 15, Lacson directed Negrenses coming from Cebu to enter the province only through the Danao Port in Escalante City while the admission of LSIs will depend on the capacity of the isolation facility in Cadiz City.
On June 18, some LSIs were fetched by personnel of their respective towns and cities and underwent mandatory quarantine in the facilities of their own LGUs instead. (Nanette Guadalquiver)