Negros Occidental Board Member Manuel Frederick Ko tested positive for COVID-19 for a second time Monday, May 17.
An emergency room nurse and a molecular laboratory staff at the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City also tested positive for COVID-19 bringing to 46 the total number of COVID-19 positive Capitol employees, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.
Ko, who was hit by COVID-19 in the first week of April, said he lost his sense of smell on Saturday night and developed a hoarse voice so he had himself swabbed for an RT-PCR test.
His positive test result came out Monday and he will again be quarantined at the Mambukal Resort in Murcia, he said.
Earlier, two executive assistants of the governor and a department head tested positive for COVID-19.
Three family members of one of the EOs and two relatives of the department head have also tested positive, Diaz said.
The upside is of the 46 COVID-positive employees, Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino and six others have recovered and were released from quarantine, and more will follow on Tuesday, May 18, Diaz said.
The Capitol’s Procurement Services Depot will also reopen tomorrow as its employees who tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered, he added.
Diaz said the active COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental are going down.
The COVID-19 active cases in Negros Occidental dropped to 1,589 on Monday from 1,845 on Sunday.
The Capitol will start the mass vaccination of its employees on Thursday, May 20, Diaz said.
To be vaccinated this week are employees who are senior citizens and those with comorbidities, while the rest will be vaccinated next week.
Diaz said the Department of Health has approved the Barangay Capitolyo vaccination program.
Of the 3,900 Capitol employees, 2,123 have yet to be vaccinated, he said.
The bulk of those who were vaccinated earlier were health care workers, he said.
Employees who are 55 years old and above will receive AstraZeneca jabs, he said.
Those below 55 will get Sinovac vaccines, he added.*