Carla P. Gomez

The 3-year-old boy and 63-year-old woman from Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City, hit with the highly contagious Delta variant, tested negative for COVID-19 Tuesday, August 17, City Administrator Em Ang said.They had already recovered from COVID-19 but were retested on Tuesday after the Philippine Genome Center informed the city government that they had been hit with the Delta variant, Ang, who is also executive director of the City Emergency Operations Center (EOC), said.The parents of the boy and the two children of the woman also tested negative for COVID-19 Tuesday, Dr. Chris Sorongon, EOC deputy for medical data and analysis, said.Sorongon said the lifting of the surgical lockdowns on their homes is likely, but they will refer the matter to the Department of Health.The...

Valladolid LGU photoThe 35-year-old woman from Valladolid town in Negros Occidental tagged by the Philippine Genome Center as the first Lambda variant case in the Philippines tested negative for COVID-19 on Tuesday, August 17, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.Her 27-day-old baby boy has also tested negative, he added.The woman and her baby were swabbed again on Monday for COVID-19 tests at the Safeguard DNA Diagnostics Inc. laboratory in Valladolid, after the Department of Health announced that her specimen was found to be positive for the Lambda variant by the Philippine Genome Center.The specimen was sent to the Philippine Genome Center on August 2 for genome sequencing after she tested positive for COVID-19 on admission at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memor...

CAAP Bacolod photoNegros Occidental and Bacolod City received 20,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines and 4,200 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines on Tuesday, August 17.Bacolod City received 10,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines from the national government and 3,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines that it purchased, City Administrator Em Ang said.She said they can use the vaccines for A4 economic frontliners since they are not among those donated to the national government that must be used for those under the A1 to A3 categories (health care workers, senior citizens and persons with comorbidities).Negros Occidental also received 10,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines from the national government and 600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines that it purchased, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said....

CBCP file photoThe Church People-Workers Solidarity supports the planned mass protest of a group of health workers from private and public hospitals over the failure of the Department of Health (DOH) to release their benefits, San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, CWS chairperson, said Tuesday, August 17.The planned mass protest by the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) is just and legitimate in the midst of the government’s failure to listen to the grievances of the health sector, which includes meal, transportation, and accommodation allowance, Special Risk Allowance and Active Hazard Duty Pay, he said.He pointed out that state auditors recently released a report on billions of pesos found to have been unused or misused by the Department of Health.The funds include Php67.3 bi...

Valladolid LGU photoThe Department of Health (DOH) announced Monday, August 16, that the first Lambda variant case in the Philippines was found in Negros Occidental.DOH 6 Regional Director Adriano Suba-an said the person tagged by the Philippine Genome Center as having tested positive for the Lambda variant was a 35-year-old pregnant female from Valladolid town in Negros Occidental. She has since delivered and her baby boy tested negative for COVID-19, he said.Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said Valladolid Mayor Enrique Miravalles does not agree with the Lambda report, but it does not matter what variant hits Negros Occidental, the protocols are all the same for staying safe.“We have to remain vigilant, follow health protocols, be strict on our borders,” Lacson ...

Photo from Brgy. Mansilingan FBA 3-year-old boy and a 63-year-old woman from Barangay Mansilingan in Bacolod City have tested positive for the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant, the Philippine Genome Center announced Monday, August 16.This brings the number of Delta variant cases in Bacolod City to four, Em Ang, city administrator and Emergency Operations Center (EOC) executive director, said Monday, August 16.The 3-year-old male, who is the third Delta variant case in Bacolod City, was asymptomatic and was tested for COVID-19 on July 15. He is believed to have been infected by his father, a security guard at a Bacolod bank, who tested positive for COVID-19 and has since recovered, Ang said.The 63-year-old female, who is the fourth Delta variant case in Bacolod, was ...

Bacolod PIO file photoThe 71-year-old male from Barangay Banago, who was the first Delta variant case in Bacolod City, has again tested positive for COVID-19, Em Ang, city administrator and Emergency Operations Center executive director, said Monday, August 16.It is normal for post COVID patients who undergo RT-PCR tests to be found positive again because they still have remnants of the virus that can still be detected by the machine, she said.A close contact of the 71-year-old also tested positive for COVID-19.The 32-year-old pregnant woman from Barangay Sum-ag, who is the second Delta variant case in Bacolod City, tested negative for COVID-19 on retesting, Ang said.However, her 8 and 5 year old children and a male neighbor have tested positive for COVID-19, she said. ...

Julius Dagatan file photoSan Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza called for justice for human rights defender Zara Alvarez on the eve of the first anniversary of her murder in Bacolod City on Aug. 17, 2020.She was gunned down by still unidentified suspects at Eroreco Subdivision in Barangay Mandalagan, Bacolod City, as she was walking home in the evening of Aug. 17, 2020.“One year after she was mercilessly murdered, justice remains elusive as the perpetrators remain at large,” Alminaza, chairman of the Church People-Workers’ Solidarity (CWS), said.CWS joins all human rights advocates in calling for a speedy investigation into her murder to bring the criminals to justice, he said.He said for years Alvarez was an active church worker who worked tirelessly defending the poor a...

Two more Bacolod Commission on Elections employees have tested positive for COVID-19 bringing the total number to three, Elections Officer Kathrina Trinio Caña said Monday, August 16.The Bacolod Comelec office will be closed until August 23, she said.The Bacolod Comelec has 16 employees.The first employee, who manifested COVID-like symptoms on Friday, tested positive for the virus during the weekend.On Sunday 13 Bacolod Comelec employees and three local government casuals were swabbed for COVID-19, which resulted in two more testing positive on Monday, she said.They are waiting for the RT-PCR test results of two more employees, she said.*

As Negros Occidental continues its rollout of anti-Covid vaccines to meet its target number of senior citizens, Kabankalan City vaccinated two of its oldest residents.Argentina S. Azcona and Esperanza V. Gargantiel, both aged 104 years old, of Barangay 3 became the oldest vaccinees in Kabankalan City.On Monday, August 16, the Negros Occidental provincial government rolled out 159 more vials of Moderna vaccines equivalent to 2,385 doses to 11 towns and cities, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.The vaccines were delivered to Ilog, Sipalay City, Bago City, Himamaylan City, Candoni, San Carlos City, Murcia, Toboso, Sagay City, EB Magalona and Talisay City, he said.*