BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson of Negros Occidental returned to work yesterday after testing negative for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
He was exposed on Tuesday to an official of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) infected with the virus.
On Wednesday night, executive assistant Charina Magallanes-Tan confirmed the governor’s reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test was negative.
After his two-day self-isolation, Lacson proceeded to an out-of-town activity, attending the groundbreaking rites for the construction of a three-story hemodialysis center at the Ignacio L. Arroyo Memorial District Hospital in Isabela town.
“I don’t feel any symptoms. My health condition is normal,” Lacson said in an interview hours before his result came out.
Lacson, as well as 18 employees of the DILG provincial office, went on self-isolation after their exposure to a female agency official from Iloilo province.
The governor had direct contact with the DILG official during the awarding rites on Jan. 22.
