Three of the latest Negros Occidental residents hit by the Delta variant were found negative for COVID-19 on retesting, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Tuesday, August 31.
The two additional residents who tested negative were a 21-year-old male from La Carlota City and a 69-year-old female from Valladolid, he said.
On Monday, Diaz said the 79-year-old female from Pulupandan had tested negative.
All three have been declared recovered and released from quarantine, he said.
A 9-year-old boy hit by the Delta variant in Silay City died on August 2, he said.
Diaz said the COVID-19 risk classification of Negros Occidental was raised to moderate and its alert level to three because of the detection of residents hit by the Delta, Alpha, Beta and P.3 variants.
However, he pointed out that when the results from the Philippine Genome Center were released those hit by the variants had already recovered and there was no surge of COVID-19 cases.
There has only been a slight increase in COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental, he said.
The number of active cases in Negros Occidental was 871 on Tuesday from 645 on August 23, Provincial Incident Management Team data showed.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson will issue an executive order extending the General Community Quarantine over Negros Occidental until September 7 in compliance with a national Inter-Agency Task Force order, Diaz said.*