BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – To avert possible transmission of coronavirus disease 2019, local authorities in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental placed portions of two barangays under a 14-day preventive lockdown after a resident there tested positive for the viral disease.
Mayor Renato Gustilo announced this move in his Executive Order No. 145, citing the closure of portions of Zone 6 of Barangay 5 and 6 in the city. A total of 1,000 households were affected.
According to Gustilo, the 36-year-old patient was a locally stranded individual (LSI) from Cebu and was classified as the province’s Patient No. 31.
The patient, he said, has been going out of his residence for seven days already before his test result came out on June 19.
“He is an undocumented and returned to Negros Occidental via the Tabuelan Port crossing to Escalante City,” the mayor added.
Gustilo further said the patient is now under home quarantine because the quarantine facility of the city government is already full housing more than 80 LSIs.
“We will transfer the patient to the Provincial Healing Facility in E.B. Magalona while contact tracing is ongoing,” he said.
The city government has already provided food packs to the affected families in the area.
Meanwhile, Gustilo said he will write the national Inter-Agency Task Force to allow local government units to enforce health protocols on returning LSIs in their jurisdiction./PN
