Negros Occidental had 232 COVID-19 active cases as of Thursday, March 18, and 41 persons positive for the virus were reported by the Department of Health on Friday, March 19.
The majority of the COVID positive persons had just arrived from Manila and Cebu, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.
The DOH said of the 41 new cases, 21 are Locally Stranded Individuals (LSIs), 14 Authorized Persons Outside Residence (APORs) and one Returning Overseas Filipino (ROF). Five others are local cases, the DOH added.
Of the 232 active cases, Diaz said 157 are LSIs, 26 APORs, 5 ROFs, and 44 local cases.
The reason for the high number of COVID-19 cases is because a lot of passengers volunteered to be tested for COVID-19 and quarantined on arrival in the province this week, Diaz said.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson issued an executive order requiring all passengers to have negative COVID-19 RT-PCR tests results prior to arrival in Negros Occidental, which took effect Monday.
However, during the transition period the policy was relaxed and arriving passengers instead volunteered to be tested on arrival, Diaz said.
The provincial government began strictly enforcing the requirement for negative test results prior to arrival on Thursday, he added.
“We still have to be very careful because of the spike in COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon,” Diaz said.*