BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
There are now 21 Army soldiers under the operational control of the 302nd Infantry Brigade in Negros Oriental who have tested positive for COVID-19 after a trooper was infected by the virus, Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Estacion said.
The trooper is a 24-year-old soldier assigned at the 32nd Division Reconnaissance Company of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division.
Estacion said all of them are now under the quarantine facility of the provincial government of Negros Oriental.
She also reported that 20 other Army soldiers tested negative for the virus. However, they are still under isolation and must complete the 14-day mandatory quarantine period, Estacion also said.
A platoon-size unit of 32nd DRC that was deployed in Cebu on March to help enforced the community quarantine, returned to Negros Oriental on June 23.
After being subjected to swab tests on their arrival, seven of them tested positive for COVID-19, 13 more followed later and another one in the series of tests, Estacion said.
She also said that the 20 Army soldiers who tested negative of the virus were transferred from the 302nd Infantry Brigade headquarters in Tanjay City to the provincial government designated facility, as requested by the Philippine Army.
Lt. Gen. Roberto Ancan, commander of AFP Central Command, said they are now of tracing the source of transmission to the soldiers of the 32nd Division Reconnaissance Company.
Ancan said it may have originated from personnel of the Navy ship that transported them from Cebu to Dumaguete, where 12 of them have been tested positive of the virus.
Of the 32 active COVID-9 positive cases in Negros Oriental, Estacion said 21 are Army soldiers, while almost all the rest are Locally Stranded Individuals from Cebu.*
