BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental’s Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said yesterday he has no plan to request the National Inter-Agency Task Force (NIATF) to place Negros Occidental under general community quarantine (GCQ).
This came after President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday night announced the new quarantine classifications from May 1 to 31. Negros Occidental was placed under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) like the rest of Western Visayas.
According to Lacson, they previously appealed to the NIATF for a stricter community quarantine. However, such request was rejected; the infection rate in the province was not yet reached the level t that required a GCQ.
Lacson said it would be useless for the provincial government to make another similar appeal, pointing out that the NIATF was “not listening to their explanations.”
Data from the Provincial Incident Management Team as of April 28 showed Negros Occidental with 1,863 active coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases.
San Carlos City had the most number of infections at 319 active cases, followed by Himamaylan City with 131, Sipalay City (118), Bago City (108), and La Carlota City (118).
Meanwhile, the Provincial Administrator’s Office was locked down after a staff tested positive for COVID-19.
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz, however, clarified he had no direct contact with the COVID-positive employee since Monday because he was mostly attending biddings and other capitol-related activities.
Diaz said the staff will undergo reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test on May 1.
In a separate interview yesterday morning, Lacson revealed that two other provincial government employees were being monitored and scheduled to undergo swab tests.
As the capitol is still adopting a four-day workweek, the Provincial Administrator’s Office is scheduled to undergo disinfection today. It will resume operation on Monday./PN
