BY JUDY PARTLOW
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Negros Oriental continue to climb with four new infections reported amid the continuous arrival of hundreds of returning residents to the province.
In a media briefing, assistant provincial health officer, Dr. Liland Estacion, health committee chair of the provincial Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), said this brought to 37 the active Covid-19 cases in the province, as of yesterday.
She said the four new cases are all locally-stranded individuals (LSIs) and natives of Sibulan, Mabinay, Zamboanguita, and Basay towns, who arrived on separate dates early this month through the “Hatid Tulong” program of the government.
The first patient is a 39-year-old-female from Barangay Cangmating, Sibulan, who arrived from Manila with her two children, and was subjected to a throat swab test after she was found reactive in a Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT), Estacion said.
The children, aged five and eight, were also swabbed but tested negative for the coronavirus, she said.
The second patient is a 64-year-old-male from Barangay Tara, Mabinay, who came from Pangasinan and arrived in the province on July 8.
The third patient from Barangay Mayabon, Zamboanguita, is a 49-year-old-female, who returned to the province from Minglanilla, Cebu, and was also throat-swabbed after an RDT test showed she was positive for antibodies.
The fourth case is a 33-year-old-male from Barangay Nagbo-alao, Basay, who arrived on July 1 from Malabon City in Metro Manila and was also subjected to throat swab testing after he exhibited coronavirus antibodies in an RDT, Estacion said.
The throat swab results came in from a testing facility in Cebu City late Wednesday, she said.
The Basay and Zamboanguita Covid-19 patients are the first cases reported in these towns, she said.
All patients are now in isolation at government-designated facilities in their respective home towns, she added.
Provincial Health Office records show that Negros Oriental has logged, from March up to July 16, a total of 65 Covid-19 cases, including three deaths, and 25 recoveries.*
