BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Ten locally stranded individuals, who recently returned home to Negros Occidental, tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019, Provincial Incident Management Team head Zeaphard Gerhart Caelian said.
Caelian said the 10 LSIs, who are now isolated in the different quarantine facilities, arrived in the province before the moratoriums imposed by 19 LGUs of Negros Occidental took effect on Dec. 21.
He, however, said 632 other LSIs tested negative of the virus.
Returning Overseas Filipinos were not subjected to swab tests when they arrived in the province since they already tested negative in Manila. They were allowed to go straight to their homes, as ordered by the National Inter Agency Task Force.
The moratoriums on returning LSIs will last until Jan. 3 or 5.
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said yesterday that he noted a small number of LSIs returning to Negros Occidental via the airport and seaports, after the suspension of inbound travel to various towns and cities in the province, as approved by the Regional Inter Agency Task Force.
Diaz said the swab test samples submitted to the molecular laboratory at the Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City recently did not exceed 500, compared to the 1,200 to 1,500 specimens a day the past weeks.
Because of the speedy release of results, the LSIs did not have to stay long in the quarantine centers, he added.
Diaz also announced that the molecular laboratory at the Valladolid District Hospital is almost complete, and the license from the Department of Health is being awaited for the facility to start operation.
He expects the VDH molecular laboratory to start operating on the second or third week of January, and its medical personnel have already been trained at the Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City. “It is now 90 percent ready,” Diaz added.*
