BACOLOD City – Some 66 Negrenses stranded in Cebu and Panay due to travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak (COVID-19) were able to return in Negros Occidental last weekend through the assistance of the provincial government here.
They have been identified as the 41 construction workers from Iloilo, a family of nine from Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan and 16 from the town of Samboan, Cebu.
Provincial Disaster Management Program Division head Zeaphard Caelian
said on April 18 that the Negrenses who recently returned in this province were
immediately brought to the healing centers set up by the provincial government
for a 14-day mandatory quarantine.
Upon their arrival, they were interviewed by health personnel and took a rapid
test for COVID-19.
“We have to let them undergo the procedure as a precautionary
measure,” Caelian said.
The two Negrense groups who traveled from Panay arrived at the Bredco port
here. They are staying in
the Mambukal Resort in Murcia town for the next two weeks.
The 16 Negrenses from Cebu, on the other hand, passed through Negros Oriental
and entered this province via Kabankalan City. They are now under quarantine at
the patient care center in the housing site of E.B. Magalona town.
On April 14, 35 Negrense overseas Filipino workers also arrived in Escalante
City from Tabuelan town in Cebu.
The group included 20 residents of various towns and cities and 15 from this city. They are also under a 14-day mandatory quarantine at the center in E.B. Magalona.
The provincial government has set up hotlines and online channels to assist its residents still stranded in other places.
As of Saturday afternoon, a total of 721 individuals from various places, including those in Metro Manila, have registered for return to Negros Occidental.(With a report from PNA/PN)
