BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
A total of 21 positive cases of the highly-contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19 has been recorded in Bacolod City while the city remains under Alert Level 3.
Dr. Chris Sorongon, Emergency Operations Center deputy for medical and data analysis, yesterday said that out of the 21 cases, two are elderly and 19 are between the ages of 24 to 56 years old.
Thirteen of the patients are female and eight are male, he added.
Sorongon said six come from Brgy. Villamonte, four from Mansilingan, three from Singcang, two from Pahanocoy, and one each from Brgys. 12, Granada, Mandalagan, Vista Alegre, Taculing and Handumanan.
Meanwhile, Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia issued Executive Order No. 7 extending the period of Alert Level 3 in Bacolod City from February 1 to 15 in compliance with the directive of the National Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (NAITF-MEID).
The order provides that inbound travelers to Bacolod City coming from areas outside of Region 6 and Negros Oriental and arriving at the Bacolod seaports or through the Bacolod-Silay Airport will be required a negative Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) instead of the RT-PCR laboratory test result, before boarding at the departure point immediately prior to arriving in Bacolod City.
Should the traveler prefer instead for the RT-PCR laboratory test undertaken by any laboratory duly-accredited by the Department of Health, such RT-PCR test must be done within 72 hours from swab sample extraction up to arrival at Bacolod City port/s of entry/Bacolod-Silay Airport, it said.
The lifting of the requirement for a negative RT-PCR test result, it being substituted by the negative RAT result, as the new health and safety protocol for travel into Bacolod City for those coming from areas outside of Region 6 and Negros Oriental, as newly-agreed upon by Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, will apply to all travelers/commuters bound for Bacolod entering its port/s and the Bacolod-Silay Airport regardless of their vaccination status, it added.*
