Four persons from South Africa who arrived in Negros Occidental last week have tested negative for COVID-19, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Thursday, December 2.
All four will remain in quarantine for 14 days from the time of their arrival in Negros Occidental as an extra precaution, Diaz said.
They arrived in the province before the national government imposed a ban on the entry of travelers from South Africa, where the feared COVID-19 Omicron variant was first detected.
Three of those who arrived in Negros Occidental on November 24, 25 and 26 are consultants of BioPower, a renewable energy power firm. Two are quarantined in a rented house in Calatrava and one in La Carlota City.
A returning overseas Filipino from South Africa who arrived in Negros Occidental on November 25 is quarantined in Pontevedra and also tested negative for COVID-19, Mayor Jose Maria Alonso said.
The four are fully vaccinated and were given the green light by the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) to enter the province before the ban on travelers from South Africa was imposed, Diaz stressed.
The provincial government was informed by the BOQ that seven more travelers from South Africa are scheduled to arrive in Negros Occidental but so far they have not applied for their S-PaSS to enter the province, he said
They are in a hotel in Manila believed to be serving out 14-day quarantine, Diaz said.
It is the BOQ that will clear them for travel to Negros Occidental, and so far no date has been set for their arrival, Diaz said.
The seven also arrived in Manila before the national government banned the entry of travelers from South Africa to protect the country from the Omicron variant, Diaz said.*