Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson is issuing an executive order requiring all incoming passengers to submit negative RT-PCR test results issued not more than 72 hours prior to their date of travel to the province, which will take effect Monday, March 15.
This will be enforced in compliance with Resolution 101 of the national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Lacson said Thursday, March 11.
This means passengers will no longer be tested for COVID-19 and quarantined on arrival in the province, he said.
Lacson said he is holding a Zoom meeting with the Negros Occidental mayors Friday, March 12, to explain to them that Negros Occidental has to implement Resolution 101.
Swabbing will still be available for passengers who want to be tested again on arrival, but they cannot depart for Negros Occidental without negative test results, he said.
“We will request the airlines not to even allow them to board the plane if they do not have a negative RT-PCR result,” he said.
Lacson said, “for those who want to be quarantined, we will offer them a quarantine area.”
However, swabbing and quarantine on arrival “will be voluntary, we cannot do otherwise”, he said.
Secretary Vivencio “Vince” Dizon, COVID-19 testing czar and deputy chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, said Resolution 101 is supposed to be implemented already “but right now we are reviewing all of the protocols because of the increasing cases that we are seeing in some parts of the country.”
The IATF is reviewing Resolution 101, it will probably be making some announcements in the next few days, he said.
“We are giving some leeway to local government units, especially in areas where cases are going up,” Dizon added.*