BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The provincial government of Negros Occidental still requires people entering the province to submit negative results of their reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests.
The national government’s Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has given local government units (LGUs) the option to require such in Resolution No. 101, said Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, even if the taskforce announced that RT-PCR tests were no longer mandatory.
Today, Lacson is convening the mayors of the province’s 31 LGUs to tackle the uniform travel protocols that the IATF set.
“On March 15, we have to implement Resolution No. 101,” Lacson said. “I have called for a Zoom meeting with the mayors to inform them about this directive, but I will issue an Executive Order requiring negative RT-PCR test results,” Lacson added.
Active cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the province spiked to 134, majority of them traced to recent arrivals of locally stranded individuals and authorized persons outside of residence (APOR), data from the Provincial Health Office showed.
Earlier, Lacson commented that the national government’s new, uniform protocols were “somewhat contradictory” as it still gave LGUs the “power to impose” their own directives.
Also under IATF Resolution No. 101, travelers would no longer be compelled to undergo quarantine unless they exhibit symptoms upon arrival.
Travelers are also no longer required to secure travel authorities or health certificates.
APOR from national government agencies and their attached agencies, on the other hand, must show their identification cards, travel orders and itineraries.
They must likewise pass symptom-screening at the ports of entry and exit./PN
