BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Even though new cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are increasing in Negros Occidental, the occupancy in the province’s main isolation center remains low, according to Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz.
Data presented by Diaz as of Jan. 10 showed the Cadiz District Hospital quarantine facility – the province’s primary COVID-19 isolation facility – having only 12 occupants (eight confirmed COVID-19 cases and four suspected cases).
“We haven’t seen yet a spike in the hospitalized naton nga mga kautoran nga Negrense,” Diaz said.
The provincial government is hopeful, he added, that it has done enough diligence by requiring inbound travelers from Alert Level 3 areas to submit negative results of their antigen or reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests.
The province’s molecular laboratories have also stepped up their lookout for new COVID-19 virus variants so they could immediately isolate such cases.
As to the province’s healing centers in Cadiz City, E.B. Magalona and Silay City, Diaz said majority of the occupants are travelers either tested “reactive” during rapid antigen test, or those who already tested positive for COVID-19 in confirmatory RT-PCR tests but asymptomatic.
As of Jan. 11, a total of 214 persons were confined in the province’s healing center in Silay City.
At the Cadiz City Healing Center, there are also 30 occupants, a majority of whom are authorized persons outside of residence (APORs), or those who have voluntarily placed themselves on quarantine after coming into close contact with COVID-19 positive patients.
The E.B. Magalona Healing Center, meanwhile, is empty but health workers in the facility remain on alert.
As of Jan. 11, Negros Occidental had 416 active COVID-19 cases./PN