Carla P. Gomez

Bacolod PIO photoThe Emergency Operations Center (EOC) will start the mass vaccination against COVID-19 of health workers, senior citizens and persons with comorbidities in 21 barangays of Bacolod City on Friday, City Administrator Em Ang said Wednesday, May 12.This will be held simultaneously with the ongoing mass vaccination at the SMX Convention Center and the Ayala Malls Capitol Central in Bacolod City, said Ang, who is also EOC executive director.She said 199 Bacolod residents were vaccinated at the SMX Convention Center and 320 at the Ayala Malls Capitol Central on Wednesday.“We will start vaccinations in the barangays Friday using the AstraZeneca vaccines that arrived Tuesday,” Ang said.The mass vaccinations will be held at Villamonte, Montevista, Handumanan, Man...

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson was surprised by a Provincial Health Office report on Wednesday, May 13, that only 16.46 percent of the targeted health care workers (HCWs) in Negros Occidental have fully been immunized against COVID-19.He stressed the need to show a high performance rate to encourage the national government to provide Negros Occidental with more vaccines.The governor also called on the mayors to continue to convince their constituents to sign up to be vaccinated against COVID-19.He was expecting that by now the vaccination of the HCWs would be finished that is why the inoculation of senior citizens had started, Lacson said, adding that he has asked the PHO for an updated report.Lacson said he was informed that the national government will have a bigger rollout of ...

IATF Chief Implementer for the Visayas Melquiades Feliciano (right) turns over a copy of the Visayas COVID-19 Vaccination Manual to Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson as Undersecretary Anthony Gerard “Jonji” Gonzales looks on.*Richard Mailhan photoAn Inter-Agency Task Force - Visayas official is calling for the conduct of a biosurveillance survey to determine if a new COVID-19 variant is causing the surge in coronavirus cases in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City.Undersecretary Anthony Gerard “Jonji” Gonzales of the Office of the President told DIGICAST NEGROS Tuesday, May 11, that Negros Occidental and Bacolod City should request the Department of Health (DOH) to conduct the survey.Gonzales was in Bacolod City with IATF Chief Implementer for the Visayas, retired MGen. Melquiades Felicia...

The AstraZeneca vaccines that arrived at the Bacolod Silay Airport Tuesday morning, May 11.*Janelle Dawn Belleza Aragona-CAAP Bacolod photoThe bulk of the 52,160 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines intended for Negros Occidental and Bacolod City arrived at the Bacolod Silay Airport Tuesday morning, May 11.The Office of Civil Defense-Western Visayas reported that Negros Occidental received 3,080 vials or 30,800 doses and Bacolod City - 1,680 vials or 16,800 doses. Each vial of the AstraZeneca vaccine contains 10 doses.Dr. Jane Juanico, Department of Health 6 infectious disease section head, on Monday said Negros Occidental would receive 32,740 doses and Bacolod City – 19,420.Some of the doses for Bacolod and Negros Occidental were shipped to the DOH regional office, she said Mond...

Two Sangguniang Panlalawigan employees have tested positive for COVID-19 bringing the total number of Negros Occidental provincial government employees hit by the virus to 36, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Tuesday, May 11.The SP now has four COVID-positive employees, but there has been no need to lock down its offices, he said.The provincial board members continued with their regular SP session Tuesday via Zoom, Diaz said.Most of the COVID-19 positive Capitol employees are recovering at the Mambukal Resort in Murcia.The Capitol’s Procurement Services Depot will remain closed until 10 of its 15 employees recover from COVID-19, he said.Recovering Capitol employees continue to receive salaries, their absence from work will not be counted against their leave ...

The Bacolod Sagguniang Panlungsod members will take up the response of Rep. Greg Gasataya to their query on the status of the bills seeking the creation of a second Bacolod congressional district during their regular session Wednesday, May 13, Councilor Al Victor Espino said Tuesday.Gasataya, in a letter in response to the SP query, said the bills are currently pending in the House Committee on Local Government for a committee hearing.The Committee is waiting for the concurrence of the City of Bacolod through the approval of a Sangguniang Panlungsod resolution stating its support for the legislative measures, Gasataya said.Gasataya said aside from his House Bill No. 147 filed in 2016 seeking to reapportion the lone legislative district of Bacolod to create a second legislative ...

Bacolod DRRMO file photoThe provincial government is again appealing to travelers and returning Negrenses to voluntarily agree to be swabbed for COVID-19 tests on their arrival in Negros Occidental and to be quarantined until their negative results are out.“That is the only safeguard we have that in the past proved to be very effective,” Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Tuesday, May 11.He said the province was able to keep its COVID-19 active cases down to 50 until Resolution 101 was imposed.National Inter-Agency Task Force Resolution 101 states that testing and quarantine on arrival cannot be mandatorily imposed. However, travelers can be required to submit negative RT-PCR test results taken within 72 hours prior to their departure from their point of origin....

Bacolod PIO photoThe Negros Occidental and Bacolod City governments will be stepping up their mass vaccination against COVID-19 with the arrival of 52,160 AstraZeneca doses good for 26,080 persons, Tuesday, May 11.The arrival of the AstraZeneca vaccines will be on top of the 6,000 more Sinovac doses good for 3,000 persons in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City also expected to arrive soon, Dr. Jane Juanico, Department of Health 6 infectious disease section head, said Monday, May 10.Juanico said Western Visayas will receive 127,200 AstraZeneca doses good for 61,100 health care workers, senior citizens and persons with comorbidities on Tuesday.Allocated for Iloilo province are 33,340 doses, Negros Occidental - 32,740, Bacolod City – 19,420, Iloilo City – 19,110, Capiz - 7,330,...

The Department of Health on Monday, May 10, downgraded Bacolod City’s COVID-19 risk classification from high to moderate, while Negros Occidental remains a low risk area despite an increase in coronavirus cases in the province.Dr. Marie Jocelyn Te, in a Department of Health “Isyung Bakuna” online briefing on the COVID-19 situation in Western Visayas Monday, May 10, said Bacolod’s classification was lowered because its average daily attack rate per 100,000 population dropped.She said Bacolod’ daily attack rate that was at 9.47 percent from April 12 to 25 dropped to 8.35 percent from April 26 to May 9.Negros Occidental’s daily attack rate also dropped from 4.94 percent from April 12 to 25 to 4.73 percent from April 26 to May 9 to maintain its low risk classification, she said....

The Land Transportation Office in Bacolod City, the Commission on Elections in Bago City and the Central Negros Electric Cooperative field office in Silay City have temporarily been shutdown after some members of their staff were hit with COVID-19.The Pag-IBIG office in Bacolod City was also briefly closed for disinfection last week when 11 of its staff tested positive for COVID-19 but has since reopened, Dr. Chris Sorongon, Bacolod Emergency Operations Center deputy, said Monday, May 10.LTO Bacolod Chief Reuben Tampos said one their employees who had gone home to Iloilo tested positive there.So on Wednesday last week mass testing of all employees was conducted that showed two more positive for COVID-19, he added.The Bacolod LTO is tentatively set to reopen on May 17, Tampos sa...