Negros Occidental retains swab test, quarantine requirement

BACOLOD CITY : The provincial government of Negros Occidental will continue to require swab tests and quarantine for locally stranded individuals (LSIs) returning to the province, Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Monday.

Lacson said the new protocols of the Negros Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) are somewhat “contradictory” as it had given local government units (LGUs) the power to “impose RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) [testing] prior to traveling.”

Lacson said a meeting was held among stakeholders in Region 6, and it was decided that they will continue maintaining the health and safety protocols.

“When [travelers] arrive, they’ll be tested and quarantined,” Lacson said. “I hope the Negrenses will cooperate. It’s for their own good.”

Lacson pointed out the importance of testing travelers, citing the recent spike in Covid-19 cases involving LSIs and authorized persons outside of residence (Apors).

“Our numbers just jumped up to 21 overnight,” Lacson pointed out.

“All of them came from the outside. You can just imagine that if these travelers came in undetected, then we could have had a problem with local transmission,” he added.

Earlier on Saturday, Palace spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. announced that the Negros IATF-EID has allowed uniform travel protocols across all LGUs in order to ease quarantine and documentary requirements.

Under Negros IATF-EID Resolution No. 101, travelers will no longer be compelled to go on quarantine unless they exhibit symptoms upon arriving at their destination.