E. B. Magalona officials, led by Mayor Marvin Malacon, on Thursday visited residents of Sitio Tinapok in Barangay Batea where a cholera case was reported.*
The cholera cases in Negros Occidental have increased to seven, with another case reported in Silay City, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Thursday, September 29.
There are now five Silay City residents who have been hit with cholera, one of whom died. Victorias and EB Magalona have one cholera case each.
The latest person confirmed to have been hit with cholera is a 51-year-old male from Barangay Guinhalaran, Silay City, who is in stable condition at the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.
Lacson said the number of cholera cases in Silay can get alarming. “The numbers are considered small citywide but if we don’t do anything about it, it can spread,” he said.
It is a concern but he knows the Silay officials are doing everything to put a stop to the increase in the number of cholera cases, Lacson said.
Lacson reiterated his call for local government units to check water sources, including water refilling stations.
Silay Mayor Joedith Gallego said a cholera outbreak has been declared in Guinhalaran where three cases were reported, including one death.
He said they are continuing a citywide information drive and testing water sources.
Mayor Marvin Malacon said the 30-year-old female resident of Sitio Tinapok in the coastal barangay of Batea, EB Magalona, who was hit with cholera has been discharged from the TLJPH and is now in stable condition.
Malacon said they have also checked water sources in Batea and warned residents to take precautions against cholera.
“We advised the residents to make sure their food and water are clean, and when in doubt, to boil their drinking water, or subject it to chlorination,” he said.
Malacon said he will call a meeting of the Local Drinking Water Committee on Monday to discuss ways to prevent cholera in EB Magalona.
“We will also call a meeting with the owners and operators of water refilling stations in the municipality to discuss this matter and urge them to have their water regularly subjected to bacteriological testing,” he added.*