BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The provincial government of Negros Occidental is eyeing the possibility of returning to the normal five-day workweek at the capitol.
But the province’s coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) condition must first improve, according to Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz.
The provincial government adopted a four-day work arrangement as part of the capitol’s health protocols to aver the spread of COVID-19 among employees.
Diaz also revealed they were eyeing to lift the province-wide curfew.
At present, the curfew hours in Negros Occidental – with the exception of its capital Bacolod City – is from 10 a.m. to 4 a.m.
Negros Occidental and Bacolod City are currently under Alert Level 2 from February 16 to February 28 by the National Inter-Agency Task Force as COVID-19 cases continue to decline.
As of Feb. 16, Negros Occidental had 1,992 active COVID-19 cases.
Total cases in since March 27, 2020 reached 40,998 now but with a high number of recoveries (37,141).
The death toll, on the other hand, stood at 1,864 cases.
The provincial government is aiming to reach its target population of 1.825 million for COVID-19 vaccination this February.
The number is equivalent to 70 percent of the province’s 2.607 million total population.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said there is a need to exert effort to meet the target.
“We should really give it a final push if we want to meet the February deadline so it would be a photo finish. I think we are now 60 percent of our target. That’s still 40 percent, it really takes a lot of effort to meet,” he added.
Lacson is optimistic Negros Occidental can “finally reach herd immunity” by meeting the target within the month./PN
